July 17, 2026 • 30 mins
In the second hour, Dick Fain and Hugh Millen chat with Chuck Powell about his words about Dan Wilson earlier this week and desires for a new Mariners manager, the trade market and what the team should do with the deadline approaching, then they hear from Justin Hollander and Wilson before M’s outfielder Luke Raley joins from T-Mobile Park.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, rolling into the four o'clock hour. We love
this time on a Friday. Does that means we get
to bring on the franchise from the Morning show? Chuck Pale, Hi, Chuck,
how are you.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hey?
Speaker 3 (00:11):
What's going on?
Speaker 1 (00:13):
We are hanging out. I'm across the street on a
beautiful day from T Mobile Park. Get well, set for
a little bit of a little bit of baseball, And
I do want to ask you before we get into
baseball chatter. It appears that the Chuck and Buck era
is over, So tell us your about your partner.
Speaker 4 (00:31):
What's going on?
Speaker 5 (00:32):
Man?
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Well? I mean the statement that he released on social
media and what we discussed today is pretty accurate as
to a pretty clear cut I should say as to
what's happening. I think a little time away, a little
the opportunity for him to get healthy and to realize
how much help you know this, how much healthier you
(00:55):
can be when you're not getting up at four o'clock
in the morning every day. I think it was just
a little crossroads time for him, and so he's decided
that he's going to move on from the Morning show,
but we're still working with him to have him be
a part of the station to be a part of
the show. It won't be Chuck and Buck going forward,
(01:17):
but I think there's a great role for him at
the station and for our morning show, and so hopefully
we can work that out and we can still keep
Bucky around. But yeah, nine years a really successful run
for somebody that had to replace the giant shoes of
Mitch Levy, and I think a lot of people doubted that.
(01:38):
And then when I chose Bucky as my partner, I
think a lot of people wondered about that. So, considering
that we were both highly questioned, not too bad a run,
nine years of success, and I certainly wish him the best.
Speaker 5 (01:51):
Yeah, not at all.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
And we're going to miss the Chuck and Buck show.
But as you state, hopefully there's some type of middle
ground that works for everybody. But that's quite a week
for you, Chuck. Uh kind of bookended. Yeah, he had
the events of uh Monday, you come out and and
uh and you you you officially lay out there, You're
(02:16):
you're swinging for the dragon's head. You're going for Dan Wilson.
Speaker 5 (02:20):
And and you called for him to be fired.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Maybe for those who missed it, kind of give a
brief argument for that position, and then but then also
on a personal.
Speaker 5 (02:31):
Level, you know, what was it like this week?
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Did you did you take any uh slings and arrows
that you didn't expect or support or what have you.
What's it like for a talk show host to make
that kind of proclamation on a Monday? Uh?
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Well, I think for the most part, and granted I
don't spend my entire time reading my critics, uh so
I don't. I don't know how angry those opposed to
me or in love with Dan Wilson where I didn't
see a lot of it, but I did see and
feel a lot of support from our listening audience and
(03:04):
from others at the station. So I think there are
a lot of people that kind of saw my point
of view and all of it. But certainly, Dan Wilson's
a fixture in this town. He's a lot bigger sports
figure than I am or ever will be, and so
he's got his fans out there, and they don't want
to see the finger pointed at him, and I don't
really like pointing the finger at him. I don't like
(03:27):
lopping off heads. It's not something that I feel entirely
comfortable with. In this job, I'm supposed to have big
opinions about sports, which I feel I deliver every day
on our radio station, and I support those opinions, but
I don't enjoy like asking for people's jobs, and so
(03:47):
it took a long time to get to that point.
I think for the last couple of years, I've been
critical about his pitching decisions, his bullpen decisions that he's made,
and I think they even underachieved last year. Until the
close of the season, I thought that it was too
difficult the season based on the talent we had a
year ago to get to the playoffs and then finally
(04:10):
make that deep run in the playoffs. So this isn't
coming out of nowhere. I think I gave Nan a
C minus at the end of last season for the
job that he did with the baseball team, But this
year's obviously been an even bigger struggle. To sit here
at forty eight and forty nine as the second half begins,
I think is very shy of what my expectations were
for them. And I just don't think managers today x's
(04:33):
and o's wise are really judged much by that they
don't really have a lot to do. Pretty much pitching
decisions and bench usage, and then the rest of managers'
responsibilities in the modern day is simply you're judged on
are you getting the most out of your talent. I
just happened to believe this roster is good enough to
go to the World Series and if things break the
(04:55):
right way, win the World Series. So when you're sitting
here at forty eight and forty nine and you're watching
a team that admittedly has problems with focus and decision making,
that's coming right from the president of the organization, Well,
I think that a lot of that has to lie
at the feet of Dan Wilson. I mean it lies
(05:17):
at the feet of the players. Don't get me wrong,
But isn't it Dan Wilson's job after ninety seven games
to course correct some of that stuff? And I just
don't think it has. But I will just say this.
You can see how powerless I am in this sports
community because he's managing tonight and I'm sure he'll manage
the rest of the season, and I think we can win.
(05:39):
I think we can go to the World Series, win
a World Series with Dan Wilson. I just think percentage wise,
I think there's a better guy out there, a guy
that gives us a better chance to accomplish our goals
than what I've seen from Dan two and a half
years into his managerial career.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Well, Chuck, because of your personality, because you're not a
headhunter that you know says stuff like that all the time.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
I mean that it makes it resonate more for me.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
And it's why I brought it up a couple times
on the show this week, why I brought it up
with Brett Boone, why I brought it up with Bill
Krueger Let and I agree with your sentiment. I'm probably
not down the road as far as you have. Hey,
we gotta fire him now, but let me play del
I'm gonna play Devil's Advocate with you for a second.
I'm gonna play pro Dan Wilson guy for a second, and.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
Pro Dan Wilson side.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Dan Wilson Guy would say, listen, he's he's a puppet
of Jerry Depoto and Justin Hollander. And when he has
no longer made a puppet, when when the goal of
the franchise goes from the long term health of the
franchise too, oh my god, we gotta win right now,
or we're not gonna make the playoffs. Look what Dan
(06:48):
does sixteen and ten in September of twenty twenty four
and seventeen and eight in September of twenty twenty five.
That's a sixty five percent win percentage in September. When
they look at the record and they go, my god,
we have got to throw caution to the wind.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
Now. We can't worry about now who.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Throws how many innings and how many times Andres Munno's
or Gamespyer or Matt Brass pitch on consecutive base We just.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Got to win. And when he does that, he actually wins.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
So how valid is that point that they're just kind
of holding him back and telling him what he can
and cannot do until it's very late in the season.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Well, Number one, I would say, I think there's truth
to the point that when you get to the second
half and all of those self imposed rules that he
has to play with are stripped away. I think he
did do a much better job in the second half
of last year when he was just focused on who's
(07:49):
the right man for the job. Let's just manage to win.
But every team has to manage the season. Every manager
has a front office. Every single organization has a front
office more involved in decisions like that. And I don't
think they're trying both hands behind his back. It's him
(08:13):
that put Gabe Spier in for a third of an
inning and then wouldn't get him back up for the
following inning. He couldn't get through a road trip with
relief pitchers. He was out of them. We had to
go two games in Baltimore where we pretty much just
rolled over and let them win to get our bullpen healthy.
And that was with a piggyback situation, if you remember. So. Yeah,
(08:36):
I think when you strip all those away. Number one,
he is better when he can just say I don't
have to worry about any other rules, let's just win
the game tonight. I think he does a much better job.
And we've seen that play out. Number two. Everybody has
those rules. Everybody in the sport has those rules. Number Three.
If he is a puppet, if he's really a puppet,
(08:56):
which I don't think that he is. I think they
have meetings beforehand. I think there are rules that are
put in place by Jerry and justin that he's got
to follow. He's got to stay with it. He's got
a color within those lines. But he makes the lineup.
I know that, gotten that from Dustin, Jerry and Dan themselves.
He makes the lineups, and he makes the in game decisions.
(09:18):
There's no phone on the wall. There's not like Phil
Knight calling him in the middle of an Orecon Ducks
Fan Duck game to tell him what to do next.
He's making those in game decisions, and he's got to
be held responsible. And I would add a further point
to that. If he is a puppet, then shame on Dan.
Why are you being a puppet? Why did you agree
(09:40):
to this job? Are you? Why are you taking all
of the heat if you're not making any of the decisions.
I don't give him any credit for allowing himself to
be a puppet, if in fact that's true. I think
that falls on Dan's character. Frankly, I think it makes
the meat look even worse if he's agreed to be
a puppet for front office executives. So I don't buy
(10:00):
that argument. And then the last thing that I would
say about it is what should we judge a manager by?
You know, what should we what? What box is he
checking right now? Because again I think we can win
with him I do. But we played this game of baseball.
Every pitch is played to the percentage of success, every inning,
(10:23):
every offseason. What are the percentages? What's our best chance
to get a hit here, what's our best chance to
get that runner in from third? What's our best chance
to get a strikeout when they've got second and third
and one out? Everything is played percentage wise. And I've
seen enough from him just to argue that I think
there's a manager out there that is better at bullpen usage,
(10:45):
better at bench usage, and probably could like a little
better fire under this team than what he has that
give us a better chance to be successful the rest
of the way, Chuck pell with.
Speaker 5 (10:58):
Us, and Chuck for whatever it's worse.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
On Monday, I said, I think there's a lot of
good reasons to disagree with you, but there's more reasons
to agree with you, and that I landed on your
side of this. But in the spirit of Dick's question
about you know, being contrarian, let me pose one more
question to you. Let's see if I can construct a Steelman,
(11:22):
not a straw Man for the argument that would sound
something like, Okay, Chuck Powell, you got this ire for
Dan Wilson. What about what about Justin holliber and Jerry Depoto,
You know, things like the how the roster is constructed.
Here the Mariners are thirtieth, dead last in the league
in runs above average. When it comes to defensive range,
(11:44):
they're twenty first in their defensive arms. They're now twenty
eighth in twenty seventh rather in ops. They they're twenty
ninth in doubles. Well, they were twenty ninth in doubles
a year ago. What about the speak to the fan
that is has a little bit more angst about Hollander
(12:08):
and Depoto than they do about Dan Wilson, and that
there's some you know, obviously you can see the pit,
the starting pitching staff, but some of the rest of
the roster construction is very flawed, and it lands at
the feet of Deboto in Hollander.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Speak to that fan, well, I would say, I don't
know why this team is so terrible offensively in the
first half every year. That's a mystery for the Ages.
I mean, that's that Stonehenge to me. That's sports Easter
Island to me. I mean, I can't I can't figure
it out. Also can't figure out why every proven veteran
(12:41):
left hander that they acquire a right hander versus left
handed pitching they acquire immediately becomes terrible. I don't know why.
Maybe it's age. Maybe they should do a better job
of predicting that Rob Reschneider was just going to hit
a wall, that Aj Pollock and Mitch Garver we're going
to hit a wall and go from crushing lefties to
(13:01):
not being able to hit them whatsoever.
Speaker 6 (13:04):
I'm not got to be too, I'm not Jack.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
It's got to be going from Fenway to Team Mobile too, right, right, Well.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
I mean, I don't think the park is taking you
from a nine to seventy ops against lefties to a
four point fifty, you know, I don't think it's the
park that's doing that. I mean, they've been dreadful, and
certainly at the time they seemed like wise smaller moves
to me, not anything to get giddy about, but just
(13:30):
solid moves that help make you a better team. So,
I mean, they're certainly not free of criticism. But I
know at the beginning of the year I felt that
the roster was fairly sound, uh and and most people agreed.
I mean, there's still one of the four favorites to
(13:50):
win the whole thing in the entire sport. That's how
solid that the roster seems to be at this point.
So I I just that's the I think that's the
whole point of and it's not ire, it's just my
assessment of this team's frustrating season. I just liked the roster,
(14:13):
and I think the manager should be making better pitching decisions,
bullpen decisions, and I know that he's I know that
they feel that that's flawed because they've corrected, both of them,
you know, they started to change the way they do it.
So they've raised their hand and admitted we're pinch hitting
too early in the game because they stopped doing it
(14:35):
to keep the leftis in the in the game. So
I think it's My entire point is that I believe
in the roster and I don't believe in the manager.
And I'm not saying that Dustin and Jerry, you know,
don't take some responsibility in this. But I just think
that this roster should be producing more victories for us,
(14:59):
and it's not. So this team continues to struggle offensively.
It's a mystery they're struggling defensively. I wish they'd take
JP Crawford out of the lineup, but they won't some
sort of weird loyalty that they have to the guy.
But yes, I just think that it falls more on
Dan than it does on the front office Chuck.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
A couple of weeks prior to the deadline, two months ago,
we were talking about Louis Castillo having absolutely no market value,
and now all of a sudden he's being mentioned a
little bit more so. How marketable is he right now?
And did we learn anything about his marketability from the
Lance mccullors trade this week.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Well, from a traditional trade deadline standpoint, where there are
there's a definitive buyer and there is a definitive seller,
we would be a buyer in this market. So if
you're going to trade Luis Castillo, are you going to
get some thing better than Luis Castillo in return that
(16:03):
doesn't come with attachments? And what I mean by that
is Luis Castillo's straight up value at the trade deadline
is probably a lower level minor leaguer to a team
that has high payroll traditionally as a high payroll and
can eat the twenty four million dollars salary from next year.
(16:24):
Now this market is starting to shape up like it
might be buyers trading to buyers because there aren't enough
sellers out there. And if that's the case, then maybe
there is a creative. Somebody threw out Saya Suzuki because
the Cubs need starting pitching so desperately for Castillo. Suzuki's
contract runs out at the end of the year. Well
(16:47):
where do I sign? Let's do that one I done,
Kim shake, you know, I don't want you to change
your mind. If you want to do that, that sort
of thing where we take a high salary from someone surplus,
they in return and take a high salary from our surplus.
Maybe something like that could work out. The other option
is that you take a Castillo contract and get like
(17:10):
a Matt Chapman from the Giants, somebody who has a
far worse contract signed through to twenty thirty, and the
Giants who are trying to get rid of money off
of their books might take a Castillo because it's a
better contract going into the future and they're not winning
with Chapman. You take Chapman off our hands, you pay
the guy through twenty thirty. That would give us a
(17:32):
goal glove caliber defensive third baseman at that point and
may assess a whole in our team while the while
they get in return a contract that they can flush
more quickly than Chapman. So there are some avenues, there's
some creative ways that he gets traded, but any traditional
(17:54):
move of Luis Castillo, I mean, you're getting a lower
level prospect that's not going to help the team right now.
That's what his trade market value would be in a
traditional year.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Chuck, always a pleasure, Enjoy the weekend, and we'll talk
to you next week.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
Man.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
All right, thank you, gentlemen.
Speaker 5 (18:13):
Thanks Charet.
Speaker 4 (18:14):
There he is, Chuck Powell joining us.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
So we're gonna switch up the back half of the
four o'clock hour a little bit because we're gonna get
a visit at about four forty or so from Luke
Railey across the street at Tea Mobile Park. So we'll
come back into our Kakamami pregame show. We'll hear from
Dan Wilson, we'll hear from Justin Hollander, and then we'll
hear from Luke Rayley on ninety three point three KJRFM
(18:37):
play Ball.
Speaker 7 (18:38):
Welcome to Saftie and Dick's Hardball pregame show presented by
Pimco the Insurance You get learn more at keemco dot com.
On Sports Radio ninety three point three KJR FM.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Yes, the Kakamamy Hardball Pregame Show Live from Jimmy's on
First a little bit earlier than usual because we've got
some fun stuff planned for you a little bit later
on today. Congressman Adam Smith is actually gonna join us
to talk about the Tech College Sports Act. That'll be
at six o'clock today, so we're moving it up a
little bit. Your lineup for today, Crawford at third, a
(19:13):
rose Orina in left, can Zone at dh cal hitting
clean up, a catcher, Naylor at first, Young at second,
Rayley in right, Victor Roeblace in center field, and Colt
Emerson at shortstop and on the mound for your Seattle
Mariners right hander Bryce Miller. Let's hear about the injury update.
(19:33):
One guy you didn't hear in that lineup again was
Julio Rodriguez.
Speaker 4 (19:37):
What did Justin Hollander have to say about him and
the rest of the.
Speaker 8 (19:40):
Injuries, Brash He's in a throwing program now, positive that
he's able to progress to that point feeling good. It's
not gonna be a week or two away. I would
say sort of mid delay August for Matt based on
how we're tracking right now and where he's at his
throwing program. Similar with Cooper Criswell, maybe a week behind Matt.
Call it late August, early September for Coop. Brendan Donovan
(20:04):
will DH and Tacoma tonight. I don't have the whole
rehab schedule in front of me. Roughly, he'll play all
around the field during his rehab assignment. He will have
some off days in there. Obviously, you don't want to
play six or eight or ten straight games on a
rehab assignment. Depending on how it goes, whether he stays
with Tacoma or as they go on the road or
(20:26):
transfers to EVERTT is still TVD whenever it gets going
again in town and Tacoma leaves. Will work on that
over the next few days, mostly about what's the most
convenient thing for him to get him ready to go,
more than it is about like the level of play
for that. So possibility he goes with the coma possibility
he stays here and goes with Everett. At that point,
(20:47):
RAF will sort of rehab assignment tomorrow in Tacoma, probably
DH tomorrow with Tacoma, and then last but not least,
is Julio. Julio is gonna work out with the team today,
do everything on field, take some swings in the cages
off that you jack. If that goes well, we'll see
where he's at tomorrow in terms of ready for activation
or needs more time. There's not been a setback or anything.
(21:10):
He just we need to check every box before he
gets out here and plays a major league game. It's
been a couple of weeks.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
That's justin Hollander wrapping up with Julio Rodriguez. Let's go
now to the skipper, Dan Wilson.
Speaker 9 (21:23):
Welcome to the second half. You know, excited for what
lies ahead for us, and and uh, you know, obviously
coming off you know, a.
Speaker 5 (21:32):
First half that.
Speaker 10 (21:34):
You know, probably would have liked to have gone a
little bit better. But at the same time, everything's right
in front of us.
Speaker 9 (21:40):
And that's our focus here as we come out of
the break is looking ahead at what's ahead, and and uh,
you know, feeling very optimistic about uh, you know, where
our guys are at and and uh, you know, getting
healthier each day. And and ready to roll. So lots
ahead of us, lots lots of you know, good baseball
ahead of us.
Speaker 10 (21:58):
Good to be back home here after the break.
Speaker 9 (22:00):
You know, it's just been a very friendly place for
us to play, and and you know we want to
certainly take advantage of that and get off on the
right foot here in the second half.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Dan, we just heard from Justin.
Speaker 8 (22:11):
You know, with the injury problems you guys had, seems
like it's finally.
Speaker 6 (22:13):
Starting to turn for a better dominant technically.
Speaker 8 (22:16):
Two three weeks out, relievers month to month and a
half out. Does it feel like now you guys are
in the second half that pains potentially could be on
the up screen with who you're getting back.
Speaker 5 (22:25):
Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 10 (22:26):
I mean I think you know, you you know, definitely
want to get your lineup back. You definitely want to
get your bullpen back, and we're heading in the right
direction with that. It is great to see Bad you know,
starting his rehab today. You know, ref getting a chance
to you know pretty soon here to start his and
and then you know pictures close behind that, So you
(22:47):
just have to you know, continue to you know, get
those guys ready so that that that we'd get them back,
and we're getting closer. But again, I think getting off
on the right foot here tonight. Uh and and in
this series here and in this homestand is is gonna
be a big focus for us.
Speaker 8 (23:06):
Dan, Look, what do you need or want to see
from Julio today to make sure you know in your
eyes that he's ready to go tomorrow?
Speaker 9 (23:12):
Yeah, you know, again I think it's uh, maybe less
about what he does and how he kind of responds
to it, but you know, getting a chance I think today,
uh you know, take some some pitches off the tra
jacked in there and and a chance to see some
more game like reps and and uh and and or
off the machine and and that kind of thing. But
(23:32):
you know, all the reports have been good and and
he seems to uh be ready for all of that,
and and uh, you know it's a matter of of
getting those reps, being okay with it, and then and
then responding well and being ready to go. So uh
hopefully it all goes smoothly and and uh you know
we we can get it back tomorrow as soon as.
Speaker 4 (23:49):
Tomorrow it's being all goes smoothly. Dan Wilson needs things
to go smoothly.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
There has been a lot of years here that the
Mariners have made the playoffs or threatened to make the playoffs,
and we're under five hundred into mid season. I mean
I wrote it down. Nineteen ninety five, they were under
five hundred on August to twenty third, twenty twenty one,
they hovered around five hundred until August the tenth, twenty twenty.
Speaker 4 (24:13):
Two, when they made the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
They were under five hundred on July fifth, twenty twenty three,
on July nineteenth, on twenty twenty four, they were under
five hundred on September third and still won eighty five games,
and this year eighty five might be enough. And then
last year they were under five hundred on June eleventh
and hovered around five hundred until about right now. So
it has happened many many times before, and for Dan
(24:38):
Wilson's sake, it better happened this year. We'll talk with
Luke Rayley from T Mobile coming up next on ninety
three point three at KJFM. Hey Luke Rayley, Honestly, Hugh,
and I'm gonna say this before he comes on. He's
one of my favorite Mariners, has been for a couple
of years. I love what he does against right handed pitching,
(24:58):
and I think he can do more against left handing pitching,
almost kind of like Dom Canzone has. And what I
want to ask him is is he taking more hacks
in the cage against lefties?
Speaker 4 (25:09):
Is he getting more looks? Because I was.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Reading early in the season that he really doesn't even
practice against left handers, but we've he's had more opportunity
against left handers over the last month or so, So
I want to know if he's is he playing a
little bit more against left handed pitching because he could
he could absolutely help you down the stretch joining us
now the.
Speaker 4 (25:27):
Guy I was just talking about, Luke Rayley, How you doing, Luke?
Speaker 3 (25:31):
I'm doing well.
Speaker 5 (25:32):
How are you?
Speaker 4 (25:32):
I'm good man.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
Before I was, I was, you know, absolutely blowing, blowing
some smoke your way before before You're on.
Speaker 4 (25:39):
You're one of my favorite players.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
I love you at the plate, and I wouldn't say
just particularly against right handed pitching. Man, I want to
see you more against lefties, and I'm wondering if you're
working on that more on your own in the cage
to give yourself an opportunity, kind of like Dom has
gotten on both sides of the plate so we can
see you every day.
Speaker 6 (26:00):
Yeah, I've definitely been doing a little bit more stuff hitting,
hitting some much knd of machine stuff like that. I
still primarily focus on on hitting right handed pitching, just
because I know that's what I'm gonna see more. But yeah,
I've definitely my work against left fan pitching a little bit.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
What what is the mindset for you guys coming out
of the All Star Break in terms of Okay, I
think everybody would acknowledge it's been a little bit of
a disappointment, and yet everything is there for you, right
and all of your goals. I mean, you got, you get,
you could be wearing hardware, uh from the end of
this year. But what's the mindset?
Speaker 4 (26:38):
You know?
Speaker 2 (26:38):
You know, I think a lot of fans were put
off by the Rose Arena. What appear to be lack
of hustle there, and as you know, is that indicative
of a of a baseball club that needs to kind
of hone down, hone in a little bit more. Just
kind of if you can share with us what the
mindset is in that clubhouse?
Speaker 6 (26:58):
Yeah, I mean I think I think you know, just
like like you said, We're all kind of disappointed how
the how the first half went for us, and we
believe we have a better ball club than than what
we showed. But yeah, the mindset kind of stays the same.
You know, we just got to go out there and
play hard and and do the little things right and
and hopefully we see see some better results here.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
Well, you know, we're we give opinions all the time
on why this team's one game under five hundred, But
I think we're gonna get a more accurate answer if
we asked a guy that's on the field every single day, So,
why is this team one game under five hundred through
the first half of the season.
Speaker 6 (27:38):
Yeah, I mean, I just we have we haven't performed
in the situation we need to perform in. We struggled
with guys on base and you know, we've we haven't
made the big play that we need to make on defense,
and just a come compilement of things that that we
could do better. I mean, it's just what it comes
down to. We got to be better and those kind
(27:59):
of situations.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Luke Rayley with us, luc do you ever see signs
of like, Okay, you were in a unique situation this
year as a club where you know, in many people's eyes,
you're the favorite to win the American League, maybe along
with the Yankees, and there was kind of maybe a
little pressure given how close you were to going to
the World Series a year ago.
Speaker 5 (28:21):
It's a little bit of a mindset.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
Right, I mean, how does that change how the approach
might go for you guys, you know, instead of being
the hunter, a little bit of the hunted and a
lot of expectations for this club in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 6 (28:36):
Yeah, I mean it could be different from person to person,
But for myself, I always like to play like I'm
the hunter, you know. I just want to go out
there and give it one hundred percent and do everything
I can to help the team win games, night in
and night out.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
Final thing for Luke Rayley, You've been here now and
seeing two of these comebacks by this Mariner team late
in the season that I've cited, I've cited basically every
single year since twenty twenty one, this team has caught
fire in August and September. You've been here for the
last two years. You guys went forty two and twenty
seven to close. Last year, you guys went sixteen and
(29:14):
seven to close in twenty twenty four and almost made
the playoffs that year. What is it about this team
that most of these guys have been on the team
since twenty twenty one, that they close every single year strong? Yeah.
Speaker 6 (29:30):
I don't know if there's there's an exact answer to that.
You know, it's just guys go out and continue to
play hard, and you know, we know what's at stake,
and you know, it might be different motivation for everybody,
but yeah, it just seems that we've since I've been here, especially,
we've been a second half team, and hopefully that trend continues.
Speaker 4 (29:52):
Hopefully it does. Man, go out there and Rake tonight.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
All right, absolutely sounds good, Thanks Mananks.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
Good look Luke Raley back the lineup where he belongs
today for the Mariners as they get set to take
on the San Francisco Giants. All Right, speaking of the Giants,
I love the Giants uniforms. I think they're classy. The
one Marochelle Giants uniforms are awesome. Why am I talking
about their uniforms because coming up next is our Friday
Bracket contest the greatest uniforms in Seattle or Pacific Northwest history.
Speaker 4 (30:21):
Hugh Jackson and I will break it down next
All right, rolling into the four o'clock hour. We love
this time on a Friday. Does that means we get
to bring on the franchise from the Morning show? Chuck Pale, Hi, Chuck,
how are you.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hey?
Speaker 3 (00:11):
What's going on?
Speaker 1 (00:13):
We are hanging out. I'm across the street on a
beautiful day from T Mobile Park. Get well, set for
a little bit of a little bit of baseball, And
I do want to ask you before we get into
baseball chatter. It appears that the Chuck and Buck era
is over, So tell us your about your partner.
Speaker 4 (00:31):
What's going on?
Speaker 5 (00:32):
Man?
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Well? I mean the statement that he released on social
media and what we discussed today is pretty accurate as
to a pretty clear cut I should say as to
what's happening. I think a little time away, a little
the opportunity for him to get healthy and to realize
how much help you know this, how much healthier you
(00:55):
can be when you're not getting up at four o'clock
in the morning every day. I think it was just
a little crossroads time for him, and so he's decided
that he's going to move on from the Morning show,
but we're still working with him to have him be
a part of the station to be a part of
the show. It won't be Chuck and Buck going forward,
(01:17):
but I think there's a great role for him at
the station and for our morning show, and so hopefully
we can work that out and we can still keep
Bucky around. But yeah, nine years a really successful run
for somebody that had to replace the giant shoes of
Mitch Levy, and I think a lot of people doubted that.
(01:38):
And then when I chose Bucky as my partner, I
think a lot of people wondered about that. So, considering
that we were both highly questioned, not too bad a run,
nine years of success, and I certainly wish him the best.
Speaker 5 (01:51):
Yeah, not at all.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
And we're going to miss the Chuck and Buck show.
But as you state, hopefully there's some type of middle
ground that works for everybody. But that's quite a week
for you, Chuck. Uh kind of bookended. Yeah, he had
the events of uh Monday, you come out and and
uh and you you you officially lay out there, You're
(02:16):
you're swinging for the dragon's head. You're going for Dan Wilson.
Speaker 5 (02:20):
And and you called for him to be fired.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Maybe for those who missed it, kind of give a
brief argument for that position, and then but then also
on a personal.
Speaker 5 (02:31):
Level, you know, what was it like this week?
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Did you did you take any uh slings and arrows
that you didn't expect or support or what have you.
What's it like for a talk show host to make
that kind of proclamation on a Monday? Uh?
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Well, I think for the most part, and granted I
don't spend my entire time reading my critics, uh so
I don't. I don't know how angry those opposed to
me or in love with Dan Wilson where I didn't
see a lot of it, but I did see and
feel a lot of support from our listening audience and
(03:04):
from others at the station. So I think there are
a lot of people that kind of saw my point
of view and all of it. But certainly, Dan Wilson's
a fixture in this town. He's a lot bigger sports
figure than I am or ever will be, and so
he's got his fans out there, and they don't want
to see the finger pointed at him, and I don't
really like pointing the finger at him. I don't like
(03:27):
lopping off heads. It's not something that I feel entirely
comfortable with. In this job, I'm supposed to have big
opinions about sports, which I feel I deliver every day
on our radio station, and I support those opinions, but
I don't enjoy like asking for people's jobs, and so
(03:47):
it took a long time to get to that point.
I think for the last couple of years, I've been
critical about his pitching decisions, his bullpen decisions that he's made,
and I think they even underachieved last year. Until the
close of the season, I thought that it was too
difficult the season based on the talent we had a
year ago to get to the playoffs and then finally
(04:10):
make that deep run in the playoffs. So this isn't
coming out of nowhere. I think I gave Nan a
C minus at the end of last season for the
job that he did with the baseball team, But this
year's obviously been an even bigger struggle. To sit here
at forty eight and forty nine as the second half begins,
I think is very shy of what my expectations were
for them. And I just don't think managers today x's
(04:33):
and o's wise are really judged much by that they
don't really have a lot to do. Pretty much pitching
decisions and bench usage, and then the rest of managers'
responsibilities in the modern day is simply you're judged on
are you getting the most out of your talent. I
just happened to believe this roster is good enough to
go to the World Series and if things break the
(04:55):
right way, win the World Series. So when you're sitting
here at forty eight and forty nine and you're watching
a team that admittedly has problems with focus and decision making,
that's coming right from the president of the organization, Well,
I think that a lot of that has to lie
at the feet of Dan Wilson. I mean it lies
(05:17):
at the feet of the players. Don't get me wrong,
But isn't it Dan Wilson's job after ninety seven games
to course correct some of that stuff? And I just
don't think it has. But I will just say this.
You can see how powerless I am in this sports
community because he's managing tonight and I'm sure he'll manage
the rest of the season, and I think we can win.
(05:39):
I think we can go to the World Series, win
a World Series with Dan Wilson. I just think percentage wise,
I think there's a better guy out there, a guy
that gives us a better chance to accomplish our goals
than what I've seen from Dan two and a half
years into his managerial career.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Well, Chuck, because of your personality, because you're not a
headhunter that you know says stuff like that all the time.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
I mean that it makes it resonate more for me.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
And it's why I brought it up a couple times
on the show this week, why I brought it up
with Brett Boone, why I brought it up with Bill
Krueger Let and I agree with your sentiment. I'm probably
not down the road as far as you have. Hey,
we gotta fire him now, but let me play del
I'm gonna play Devil's Advocate with you for a second.
I'm gonna play pro Dan Wilson guy for a second, and.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
Pro Dan Wilson side.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Dan Wilson Guy would say, listen, he's he's a puppet
of Jerry Depoto and Justin Hollander. And when he has
no longer made a puppet, when when the goal of
the franchise goes from the long term health of the
franchise too, oh my god, we gotta win right now,
or we're not gonna make the playoffs. Look what Dan
(06:48):
does sixteen and ten in September of twenty twenty four
and seventeen and eight in September of twenty twenty five.
That's a sixty five percent win percentage in September. When
they look at the record and they go, my god,
we have got to throw caution to the wind.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
Now. We can't worry about now who.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Throws how many innings and how many times Andres Munno's
or Gamespyer or Matt Brass pitch on consecutive base We just.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Got to win. And when he does that, he actually wins.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
So how valid is that point that they're just kind
of holding him back and telling him what he can
and cannot do until it's very late in the season.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Well, Number one, I would say, I think there's truth
to the point that when you get to the second
half and all of those self imposed rules that he
has to play with are stripped away. I think he
did do a much better job in the second half
of last year when he was just focused on who's
(07:49):
the right man for the job. Let's just manage to win.
But every team has to manage the season. Every manager
has a front office. Every single organization has a front
office more involved in decisions like that. And I don't
think they're trying both hands behind his back. It's him
(08:13):
that put Gabe Spier in for a third of an
inning and then wouldn't get him back up for the
following inning. He couldn't get through a road trip with
relief pitchers. He was out of them. We had to
go two games in Baltimore where we pretty much just
rolled over and let them win to get our bullpen healthy.
And that was with a piggyback situation, if you remember. So. Yeah,
(08:36):
I think when you strip all those away. Number one,
he is better when he can just say I don't
have to worry about any other rules, let's just win
the game tonight. I think he does a much better job.
And we've seen that play out. Number two. Everybody has
those rules. Everybody in the sport has those rules. Number Three.
If he is a puppet, if he's really a puppet,
(08:56):
which I don't think that he is. I think they
have meetings beforehand. I think there are rules that are
put in place by Jerry and justin that he's got
to follow. He's got to stay with it. He's got
a color within those lines. But he makes the lineup.
I know that, gotten that from Dustin, Jerry and Dan themselves.
He makes the lineups, and he makes the in game decisions.
(09:18):
There's no phone on the wall. There's not like Phil
Knight calling him in the middle of an Orecon Ducks
Fan Duck game to tell him what to do next.
He's making those in game decisions, and he's got to
be held responsible. And I would add a further point
to that. If he is a puppet, then shame on Dan.
Why are you being a puppet? Why did you agree
(09:40):
to this job? Are you? Why are you taking all
of the heat if you're not making any of the decisions.
I don't give him any credit for allowing himself to
be a puppet, if in fact that's true. I think
that falls on Dan's character. Frankly, I think it makes
the meat look even worse if he's agreed to be
a puppet for front office executives. So I don't buy
(10:00):
that argument. And then the last thing that I would
say about it is what should we judge a manager by?
You know, what should we what? What box is he
checking right now? Because again I think we can win
with him I do. But we played this game of baseball.
Every pitch is played to the percentage of success, every inning,
(10:23):
every offseason. What are the percentages? What's our best chance
to get a hit here, what's our best chance to
get that runner in from third? What's our best chance
to get a strikeout when they've got second and third
and one out? Everything is played percentage wise. And I've
seen enough from him just to argue that I think
there's a manager out there that is better at bullpen usage,
(10:45):
better at bench usage, and probably could like a little
better fire under this team than what he has that
give us a better chance to be successful the rest
of the way, Chuck pell with.
Speaker 5 (10:58):
Us, and Chuck for whatever it's worse.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
On Monday, I said, I think there's a lot of
good reasons to disagree with you, but there's more reasons
to agree with you, and that I landed on your
side of this. But in the spirit of Dick's question
about you know, being contrarian, let me pose one more
question to you. Let's see if I can construct a Steelman,
(11:22):
not a straw Man for the argument that would sound
something like, Okay, Chuck Powell, you got this ire for
Dan Wilson. What about what about Justin holliber and Jerry Depoto,
You know, things like the how the roster is constructed.
Here the Mariners are thirtieth, dead last in the league
in runs above average. When it comes to defensive range,
(11:44):
they're twenty first in their defensive arms. They're now twenty
eighth in twenty seventh rather in ops. They they're twenty
ninth in doubles. Well, they were twenty ninth in doubles
a year ago. What about the speak to the fan
that is has a little bit more angst about Hollander
(12:08):
and Depoto than they do about Dan Wilson, and that
there's some you know, obviously you can see the pit,
the starting pitching staff, but some of the rest of
the roster construction is very flawed, and it lands at
the feet of Deboto in Hollander.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Speak to that fan, well, I would say, I don't
know why this team is so terrible offensively in the
first half every year. That's a mystery for the Ages.
I mean, that's that Stonehenge to me. That's sports Easter
Island to me. I mean, I can't I can't figure
it out. Also can't figure out why every proven veteran
(12:41):
left hander that they acquire a right hander versus left
handed pitching they acquire immediately becomes terrible. I don't know why.
Maybe it's age. Maybe they should do a better job
of predicting that Rob Reschneider was just going to hit
a wall, that Aj Pollock and Mitch Garver we're going
to hit a wall and go from crushing lefties to
(13:01):
not being able to hit them whatsoever.
Speaker 6 (13:04):
I'm not got to be too, I'm not Jack.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
It's got to be going from Fenway to Team Mobile too, right, right, Well.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
I mean, I don't think the park is taking you
from a nine to seventy ops against lefties to a
four point fifty, you know, I don't think it's the
park that's doing that. I mean, they've been dreadful, and
certainly at the time they seemed like wise smaller moves
to me, not anything to get giddy about, but just
(13:30):
solid moves that help make you a better team. So,
I mean, they're certainly not free of criticism. But I
know at the beginning of the year I felt that
the roster was fairly sound, uh and and most people agreed.
I mean, there's still one of the four favorites to
(13:50):
win the whole thing in the entire sport. That's how
solid that the roster seems to be at this point.
So I I just that's the I think that's the
whole point of and it's not ire, it's just my
assessment of this team's frustrating season. I just liked the roster,
(14:13):
and I think the manager should be making better pitching decisions,
bullpen decisions, and I know that he's I know that
they feel that that's flawed because they've corrected, both of them,
you know, they started to change the way they do it.
So they've raised their hand and admitted we're pinch hitting
too early in the game because they stopped doing it
(14:35):
to keep the leftis in the in the game. So
I think it's My entire point is that I believe
in the roster and I don't believe in the manager.
And I'm not saying that Dustin and Jerry, you know,
don't take some responsibility in this. But I just think
that this roster should be producing more victories for us,
(14:59):
and it's not. So this team continues to struggle offensively.
It's a mystery they're struggling defensively. I wish they'd take
JP Crawford out of the lineup, but they won't some
sort of weird loyalty that they have to the guy.
But yes, I just think that it falls more on
Dan than it does on the front office Chuck.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
A couple of weeks prior to the deadline, two months ago,
we were talking about Louis Castillo having absolutely no market value,
and now all of a sudden he's being mentioned a
little bit more so. How marketable is he right now?
And did we learn anything about his marketability from the
Lance mccullors trade this week.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Well, from a traditional trade deadline standpoint, where there are
there's a definitive buyer and there is a definitive seller,
we would be a buyer in this market. So if
you're going to trade Luis Castillo, are you going to
get some thing better than Luis Castillo in return that
(16:03):
doesn't come with attachments? And what I mean by that
is Luis Castillo's straight up value at the trade deadline
is probably a lower level minor leaguer to a team
that has high payroll traditionally as a high payroll and
can eat the twenty four million dollars salary from next year.
(16:24):
Now this market is starting to shape up like it
might be buyers trading to buyers because there aren't enough
sellers out there. And if that's the case, then maybe
there is a creative. Somebody threw out Saya Suzuki because
the Cubs need starting pitching so desperately for Castillo. Suzuki's
contract runs out at the end of the year. Well
(16:47):
where do I sign? Let's do that one I done,
Kim shake, you know, I don't want you to change
your mind. If you want to do that, that sort
of thing where we take a high salary from someone surplus,
they in return and take a high salary from our surplus.
Maybe something like that could work out. The other option
is that you take a Castillo contract and get like
(17:10):
a Matt Chapman from the Giants, somebody who has a
far worse contract signed through to twenty thirty, and the
Giants who are trying to get rid of money off
of their books might take a Castillo because it's a
better contract going into the future and they're not winning
with Chapman. You take Chapman off our hands, you pay
the guy through twenty thirty. That would give us a
(17:32):
goal glove caliber defensive third baseman at that point and
may assess a whole in our team while the while
they get in return a contract that they can flush
more quickly than Chapman. So there are some avenues, there's
some creative ways that he gets traded, but any traditional
(17:54):
move of Luis Castillo, I mean, you're getting a lower
level prospect that's not going to help the team right now.
That's what his trade market value would be in a
traditional year.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Chuck, always a pleasure, Enjoy the weekend, and we'll talk
to you next week.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
Man.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
All right, thank you, gentlemen.
Speaker 5 (18:13):
Thanks Charet.
Speaker 4 (18:14):
There he is, Chuck Powell joining us.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
So we're gonna switch up the back half of the
four o'clock hour a little bit because we're gonna get
a visit at about four forty or so from Luke
Railey across the street at Tea Mobile Park. So we'll
come back into our Kakamami pregame show. We'll hear from
Dan Wilson, we'll hear from Justin Hollander, and then we'll
hear from Luke Rayley on ninety three point three KJRFM
(18:37):
play Ball.
Speaker 7 (18:38):
Welcome to Saftie and Dick's Hardball pregame show presented by
Pimco the Insurance You get learn more at keemco dot com.
On Sports Radio ninety three point three KJR FM.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Yes, the Kakamamy Hardball Pregame Show Live from Jimmy's on
First a little bit earlier than usual because we've got
some fun stuff planned for you a little bit later
on today. Congressman Adam Smith is actually gonna join us
to talk about the Tech College Sports Act. That'll be
at six o'clock today, so we're moving it up a
little bit. Your lineup for today, Crawford at third, a
(19:13):
rose Orina in left, can Zone at dh cal hitting
clean up, a catcher, Naylor at first, Young at second,
Rayley in right, Victor Roeblace in center field, and Colt
Emerson at shortstop and on the mound for your Seattle
Mariners right hander Bryce Miller. Let's hear about the injury update.
(19:33):
One guy you didn't hear in that lineup again was
Julio Rodriguez.
Speaker 4 (19:37):
What did Justin Hollander have to say about him and
the rest of the.
Speaker 8 (19:40):
Injuries, Brash He's in a throwing program now, positive that
he's able to progress to that point feeling good. It's
not gonna be a week or two away. I would
say sort of mid delay August for Matt based on
how we're tracking right now and where he's at his
throwing program. Similar with Cooper Criswell, maybe a week behind Matt.
Call it late August, early September for Coop. Brendan Donovan
(20:04):
will DH and Tacoma tonight. I don't have the whole
rehab schedule in front of me. Roughly, he'll play all
around the field during his rehab assignment. He will have
some off days in there. Obviously, you don't want to
play six or eight or ten straight games on a
rehab assignment. Depending on how it goes, whether he stays
with Tacoma or as they go on the road or
(20:26):
transfers to EVERTT is still TVD whenever it gets going
again in town and Tacoma leaves. Will work on that
over the next few days, mostly about what's the most
convenient thing for him to get him ready to go,
more than it is about like the level of play
for that. So possibility he goes with the coma possibility
he stays here and goes with Everett. At that point,
(20:47):
RAF will sort of rehab assignment tomorrow in Tacoma, probably
DH tomorrow with Tacoma, and then last but not least,
is Julio. Julio is gonna work out with the team today,
do everything on field, take some swings in the cages
off that you jack. If that goes well, we'll see
where he's at tomorrow in terms of ready for activation
or needs more time. There's not been a setback or anything.
(21:10):
He just we need to check every box before he
gets out here and plays a major league game. It's
been a couple of weeks.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
That's justin Hollander wrapping up with Julio Rodriguez. Let's go
now to the skipper, Dan Wilson.
Speaker 9 (21:23):
Welcome to the second half. You know, excited for what
lies ahead for us, and and uh, you know, obviously
coming off you know, a.
Speaker 5 (21:32):
First half that.
Speaker 10 (21:34):
You know, probably would have liked to have gone a
little bit better. But at the same time, everything's right
in front of us.
Speaker 9 (21:40):
And that's our focus here as we come out of
the break is looking ahead at what's ahead, and and uh,
you know, feeling very optimistic about uh, you know, where
our guys are at and and uh, you know, getting
healthier each day. And and ready to roll. So lots
ahead of us, lots lots of you know, good baseball
ahead of us.
Speaker 10 (21:58):
Good to be back home here after the break.
Speaker 9 (22:00):
You know, it's just been a very friendly place for
us to play, and and you know we want to
certainly take advantage of that and get off on the
right foot here in the second half.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Dan, we just heard from Justin.
Speaker 8 (22:11):
You know, with the injury problems you guys had, seems
like it's finally.
Speaker 6 (22:13):
Starting to turn for a better dominant technically.
Speaker 8 (22:16):
Two three weeks out, relievers month to month and a
half out. Does it feel like now you guys are
in the second half that pains potentially could be on
the up screen with who you're getting back.
Speaker 5 (22:25):
Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 10 (22:26):
I mean I think you know, you you know, definitely
want to get your lineup back. You definitely want to
get your bullpen back, and we're heading in the right
direction with that. It is great to see Bad you know,
starting his rehab today. You know, ref getting a chance
to you know pretty soon here to start his and
and then you know pictures close behind that, So you
(22:47):
just have to you know, continue to you know, get
those guys ready so that that that we'd get them back,
and we're getting closer. But again, I think getting off
on the right foot here tonight. Uh and and in
this series here and in this homestand is is gonna
be a big focus for us.
Speaker 8 (23:06):
Dan, Look, what do you need or want to see
from Julio today to make sure you know in your
eyes that he's ready to go tomorrow?
Speaker 9 (23:12):
Yeah, you know, again I think it's uh, maybe less
about what he does and how he kind of responds
to it, but you know, getting a chance I think today,
uh you know, take some some pitches off the tra
jacked in there and and a chance to see some
more game like reps and and uh and and or
off the machine and and that kind of thing. But
(23:32):
you know, all the reports have been good and and
he seems to uh be ready for all of that,
and and uh, you know it's a matter of of
getting those reps, being okay with it, and then and
then responding well and being ready to go. So uh
hopefully it all goes smoothly and and uh you know
we we can get it back tomorrow as soon as.
Speaker 4 (23:49):
Tomorrow it's being all goes smoothly. Dan Wilson needs things
to go smoothly.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
There has been a lot of years here that the
Mariners have made the playoffs or threatened to make the playoffs,
and we're under five hundred into mid season. I mean
I wrote it down. Nineteen ninety five, they were under
five hundred on August to twenty third, twenty twenty one,
they hovered around five hundred until August the tenth, twenty twenty.
Speaker 4 (24:13):
Two, when they made the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
They were under five hundred on July fifth, twenty twenty three,
on July nineteenth, on twenty twenty four, they were under
five hundred on September third and still won eighty five games,
and this year eighty five might be enough. And then
last year they were under five hundred on June eleventh
and hovered around five hundred until about right now. So
it has happened many many times before, and for Dan
(24:38):
Wilson's sake, it better happened this year. We'll talk with
Luke Rayley from T Mobile coming up next on ninety
three point three at KJFM. Hey Luke Rayley, Honestly, Hugh,
and I'm gonna say this before he comes on. He's
one of my favorite Mariners, has been for a couple
of years. I love what he does against right handed pitching,
(24:58):
and I think he can do more against left handing pitching,
almost kind of like Dom Canzone has. And what I
want to ask him is is he taking more hacks
in the cage against lefties?
Speaker 4 (25:09):
Is he getting more looks? Because I was.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Reading early in the season that he really doesn't even
practice against left handers, but we've he's had more opportunity
against left handers over the last month or so, So
I want to know if he's is he playing a
little bit more against left handed pitching because he could
he could absolutely help you down the stretch joining us
now the.
Speaker 4 (25:27):
Guy I was just talking about, Luke Rayley, How you doing, Luke?
Speaker 3 (25:31):
I'm doing well.
Speaker 5 (25:32):
How are you?
Speaker 4 (25:32):
I'm good man.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
Before I was, I was, you know, absolutely blowing, blowing
some smoke your way before before You're on.
Speaker 4 (25:39):
You're one of my favorite players.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
I love you at the plate, and I wouldn't say
just particularly against right handed pitching. Man, I want to
see you more against lefties, and I'm wondering if you're
working on that more on your own in the cage
to give yourself an opportunity, kind of like Dom has
gotten on both sides of the plate so we can
see you every day.
Speaker 6 (26:00):
Yeah, I've definitely been doing a little bit more stuff hitting,
hitting some much knd of machine stuff like that. I
still primarily focus on on hitting right handed pitching, just
because I know that's what I'm gonna see more. But yeah,
I've definitely my work against left fan pitching a little bit.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
What what is the mindset for you guys coming out
of the All Star Break in terms of Okay, I
think everybody would acknowledge it's been a little bit of
a disappointment, and yet everything is there for you, right
and all of your goals. I mean, you got, you get,
you could be wearing hardware, uh from the end of
this year. But what's the mindset?
Speaker 4 (26:38):
You know?
Speaker 2 (26:38):
You know, I think a lot of fans were put
off by the Rose Arena. What appear to be lack
of hustle there, and as you know, is that indicative
of a of a baseball club that needs to kind
of hone down, hone in a little bit more. Just
kind of if you can share with us what the
mindset is in that clubhouse?
Speaker 6 (26:58):
Yeah, I mean I think I think you know, just
like like you said, We're all kind of disappointed how
the how the first half went for us, and we
believe we have a better ball club than than what
we showed. But yeah, the mindset kind of stays the same.
You know, we just got to go out there and
play hard and and do the little things right and
and hopefully we see see some better results here.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
Well, you know, we're we give opinions all the time
on why this team's one game under five hundred, But
I think we're gonna get a more accurate answer if
we asked a guy that's on the field every single day, So,
why is this team one game under five hundred through
the first half of the season.
Speaker 6 (27:38):
Yeah, I mean, I just we have we haven't performed
in the situation we need to perform in. We struggled
with guys on base and you know, we've we haven't
made the big play that we need to make on defense,
and just a come compilement of things that that we
could do better. I mean, it's just what it comes
down to. We got to be better and those kind
(27:59):
of situations.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Luke Rayley with us, luc do you ever see signs
of like, Okay, you were in a unique situation this
year as a club where you know, in many people's eyes,
you're the favorite to win the American League, maybe along
with the Yankees, and there was kind of maybe a
little pressure given how close you were to going to
the World Series a year ago.
Speaker 5 (28:21):
It's a little bit of a mindset.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
Right, I mean, how does that change how the approach
might go for you guys, you know, instead of being
the hunter, a little bit of the hunted and a
lot of expectations for this club in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 6 (28:36):
Yeah, I mean it could be different from person to person,
But for myself, I always like to play like I'm
the hunter, you know. I just want to go out
there and give it one hundred percent and do everything
I can to help the team win games, night in
and night out.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
Final thing for Luke Rayley, You've been here now and
seeing two of these comebacks by this Mariner team late
in the season that I've cited, I've cited basically every
single year since twenty twenty one, this team has caught
fire in August and September. You've been here for the
last two years. You guys went forty two and twenty
seven to close. Last year, you guys went sixteen and
(29:14):
seven to close in twenty twenty four and almost made
the playoffs that year. What is it about this team
that most of these guys have been on the team
since twenty twenty one, that they close every single year strong? Yeah.
Speaker 6 (29:30):
I don't know if there's there's an exact answer to that.
You know, it's just guys go out and continue to
play hard, and you know, we know what's at stake,
and you know, it might be different motivation for everybody,
but yeah, it just seems that we've since I've been here, especially,
we've been a second half team, and hopefully that trend continues.
Speaker 4 (29:52):
Hopefully it does. Man, go out there and Rake tonight.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
All right, absolutely sounds good, Thanks Mananks.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
Good look Luke Raley back the lineup where he belongs
today for the Mariners as they get set to take
on the San Francisco Giants. All Right, speaking of the Giants,
I love the Giants uniforms. I think they're classy. The
one Marochelle Giants uniforms are awesome. Why am I talking
about their uniforms because coming up next is our Friday
Bracket contest the greatest uniforms in Seattle or Pacific Northwest history.
Speaker 4 (30:21):
Hugh Jackson and I will break it down next
Dave 'Softy' Mahler and Dick Fain News
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