July 30, 2026 • 32 mins
In the second hour, Dave Softy Mahler chats with Bret Boone about Bryan Woo’s issues on the road this year and the mental struggle with it, the Mariners at the trade deadline and players from the Padres they could go after, then Jackson Felts rejoins the show to discuss Softy’s confidence in Woo tonight before reacting to a new WNBA controversy.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I mean to you. Live from our Elliott Avenue studios
of Sports Radio ninety three point three KJR FM. It's
time for our weekly conversation with former Mariners all star
Bret Boone, brought to you by Venue Kings. Visit venue
kings dot com for all your ticket needs. Now with Boony,
here's SOFTI in Dick.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
All right, we're back on a busy Thursday. Softy Dick
Jackson with no dick today.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Yes, it's true, this man has no dick.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
It's my pleasure, of my honor, and welcome in one
of my favorite mannues of all time. I call him
a friend. All courtesy of our pals at venue kings
dot com. Get your Seahawk tickets at venue kings dot com.
Husky tickets, be sure and use code Softy at checkout
at venue kings dot com. Although, if you're looking at
storm tickets by the way on the website at venue
(00:47):
kings dot com, uh it, make sure you get a
seat in the upper deck because that's as far away
from the owner as you can get. They might go
nuts on you broody. How are you Palwit's going on?
Speaker 4 (00:58):
Hey, Softie? What's up?
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Not much nothing, enjoyed some sunny southern California weather.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
It's a beautiful day up here in Seatt I'm going
I'll tell you what, It'd be a lot prettier if
the MS could get this win against Texas or excuse me,
the Dodgers and take this series tonight. Uh, let's start
with the obvious question. Brian Wu has been horrific on
the road, and Jackson and I were talking about the
numbers boony earlier today that it's not it's not really
about one or two bad starts that has inflated his era.
(01:28):
This is six consecutive starts where he's just been awful
by his standards, four earned runs or more in every
single start, he's got a seven point seven to one
e RA and his last six road starts, I think
it breaks tonight and the Brian Wu gets it done.
Maybe I'm being just you know, wishful thinking here, but
(01:48):
Brian Wu on the road has been a disaster. Is
there any part of you that thinks tonight will be
any different?
Speaker 4 (01:55):
Well? I think you know.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Part of Wu's charm is he's he's a he's very
honest with the press. He tells you what he's thinking.
He tells you when he's good, he tells you when
he's bad.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
And at the big at the big league level, I
never really worry about trends that much.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Now they start to stack up over a course of
a season, you start to worry about what I worry
about this? And I watched is his last start against Texas.
He looked like a completely different pitcher than when I
was on the field a year ago. Watching him pitch
on the road against US in Texas, and I almost
I started to wonder. I said, he's so candid, and
he's so honest about how bad he's been on the
(02:37):
road and talks about it so much.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
Is this starting to seep in?
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Like when he takes the mound on the road, his
mind starts to say, here we go again, and the
first bad thing that happens it just you can get
that mental if you if you tell yourself something, yourself
something long enough, it starts to come out in the results.
And I'm starting to wonder if he's you know, the
candid part is what you love about somebody, the honesty,
(03:03):
But in the end it could be a detriment. It's
like you've talked about it so much, and I watched
that Texas start. It didn't even look like Brian Wu.
It looked like somebody I've never seen pitch before the
way he started off that game.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
And so let's stop talking about it. Let's go pitch.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Yeah, maybe on that back when we were doing the
six man rotation and the piggyback, maybe we just said
should have had Castillo pitch.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
On the road and Wu pitch at home. Right, Well,
maybe that was the way to go.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Now I'm kidding, I'm half kidding when I say that,
but yeah, this is something that's kind of snowballed, and yeah,
at some point you just got to say, I just
got to be a man, go out there and pitch
like I'm capable of pitching, no matter the venue.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
No, I mean, it's not crazy at all, boonie, because
I think if I've got my facts right, and there's
a chance I don't that Bryce Miller was supposed to
pitch in this game today and he had to take
an extra day off because he's banged up, and he's
going to pitch Friday against Minnesota at home. That's where
Brian Wu was supposed to pitch. So they were gonna
this is two road starts for him on this Texas
(04:03):
La trip versus just the one. So you're exactly right
about that number one and then number two. I mean,
I hate to bring this up, but you've brought it
up before. Look, I mean, you play a long time
in the big leagues. You're gonna have some parks that
you rake in, other parks that you don't rake in.
You mentioned Camden Yards. You had a career batting average
at two hundred or a five ninety four.
Speaker 5 (04:23):
Ops. Maybe you felt terrible.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
You go to Anaheim, You're hitting three fifty with a
ten thirty nine.
Speaker 5 (04:29):
Ops. You killed it there. You had confidence.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Everyone that plays golf has that one hole that they
dread that drives them bananas. I think what you're talking
about is a real deal. That he's probably got this
in his brain every road start. Oh my god, here
we go again. You had to feel that way when
you went to Camden Yards.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
I felt that way when I went to Camdwyard. But
I think you know, one day I hit a big
grand slam there. Yeah, so it's not like but I
didn't talk about it going in, right, No, I thought, Hey,
I'm gonna I'm gonna write the ship here and some
of the all parks where I just didn't feel I
didn't see the ball. Well, the backdrop was different. You know,
I can make every excuse in the world, but you can't.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
You can't narrow it.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Yeah, it's one thing having a phobia about going to
Camden Yards. It's another thing going anywhere on the road.
You know, it's like a pitcher going into Colorado in
the early days. It's like it's not the greatest place
to pitch, but it's just one time we have to
go there. And and all of us as players, pitchers,
hitters alike, you're gonna have your favorite road venues and
(05:30):
your and your and your most un fun places to
go on the road. But you can't when it starts
to to to expand into everywhere on the road, then
it becomes a problem, and it's something we we just
got to stop talking about it. We just have to
go out there and pitch, because obviously this stuff speaks
for itself when he's on Uh, there's no reason that
(05:51):
just because it's a road. You know, I can understand
one mound on the road, I don't I don't match
up with that mound, But you can't say I don't
match you up with anything that's outside of T Mobile Park.
Speaker 5 (06:02):
On hundred percent right.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
This is a different story because it's every road gaming pitches,
not just what I mean. I hate Yankee Stadium. You know,
I can't stand pitching at Fenway whatever. Man, that's nothing
with this is well, okay, dude, there are two games out,
they win the night, they're a game and a half out, whatever,
two and a half, game and a half. You got
four games left until the trading deadline on Monday at
three o'clock. Three games series with the Twins, which apparently
(06:25):
Buxton's not gonna play because the guy just hit the
ten day IL. So that's great, we're not seeing him
over the weekend. But I mean, if you're Jerry Depoto,
are you in it? Are you not in it?
Speaker 5 (06:36):
Are you?
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Are you mortgaging some prospects to get better? Are you
trading a couple of starting pitchers to get better?
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Like?
Speaker 5 (06:44):
What do you think of your team right now?
Speaker 1 (06:47):
No?
Speaker 3 (06:47):
This was kind of an enlightening moment for me this
this week. I had Jim Bowden on and we were
talking about trade deadlines. Now, he's an ext general manager.
This is what he does. This is his Wheelhouse getting
ready and ready for the trade deadline. And I put
that to him and I said, and I said, Jimmy,
what do you do it? He said, Brett, at this
(07:09):
stage of the game, if you're worth your salt as
a general manager, you don't make emotional decisions. You know
if you've got a playoff team, a playoff team that
can go deep into the postseason, and if you don't
have a playoff team that can do that, that's how
you make your decisions. You don't wait till the last minute.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
He said.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
That's what general managers that shouldn't be general managers do.
He goes, at this stage in the game, as a
general manager with a week to go, I know whether
I'm building on this team. Obviously you've got to be
within a reasonable amount of games. But he said, I
know if we've got a championship team, and I know
if I don't. And that's how I make my decisions.
I don't get emotional. Now the ownership comes in, what
(07:47):
do they want to do? Because he said he said
he made a good point too, He said, the owner
of the team, he goes. The only way I can
make the final decision if I have the money to
go buy a team, as long as I don't have
the money to go buy a team. Obviously I have
to honor my owner. But as a general manager, I
don't make emotional decisions. So Jerry looking at this team,
looking at what they did a year ago, looking at
the same personnel, He's probably looking at this division being
(08:09):
the weakest division in baseball. He's got to take all
these things into consideration, and I think, say, yeah, we
can win the division. I was looking at this division.
It might be easier to win this division than it
is to get a wild card berth this year. So
I think you look on paper, you look at the division,
and he say, of course we're in it. Now we
(08:30):
still need a right handed bat.
Speaker 5 (08:31):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
I was thinking. San Diego Padres are in a similar position.
I think they're two games out of a wild card spot.
On paper, they have stars all over the plate offensively
in the bullpen, but they're starting pitching is Let's be honest,
it's weak. After King, it's pretty much a bunch of
fourth and fifth starters. They need a starting pitching is
Seattle and Padres a good matchup when it comes to
(08:54):
you got a guy, an old friend of the Mariners,
like a ty Franz's having a great who's having a
great year for the San Diego Padres.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
Would that be in the mix?
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Padres need starting pitching so and they also have a
lot of bullpen depth in San Diego, So is that
a good matchup.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
These are just things I'm thrown out, but I think
at the deadline, I think Jerry's going to go out
and he's going to try to make this team better
before Monday.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
My concern about ty France, Look, it was the right
decision to let him go, and it potentially would be
the right decision to bring him back. But his success
since he left here in twenty twenty four, all of it,
for the most part, has come in San Diego. With
the Padres, he's got an eight to seventy seven.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
I don't even think Softie, I don't think they were
planning on him to be a big factor this year.
Right with their offensive woes with the Machado and the
Tatis and the Merrill for the first half were non existent,
ty Franz picked up a lot of that slack and
has been kind of the can zone of the Seattle Mariners.
They weren't planning on Canzone being the leading home run
(10:02):
hitter right now and leading that offense, but he has
been that. Ty France is very similar to what can
Zone's done for the Mariners. That's what ty France is
doing for the Padres. Yeah, and I don't know. I'm
kind of grasping at straws right now, but I keep
thinking about right handed bats and do you want a
prolific right handed bat? Well, how many of are really available? Well,
(10:23):
Ty Frances kind of in the middle. He's not prolific,
but he's doing more than a Platoons player is doing
right now. You know, he's got an ops I think
of eight fifty or better. He's hitting, He's got fifteen
home runs, he's hitting two eighty something. He's doing a
real good job for the Padres. And I get to
watch him because I live in the city, so I've
seen that. So I'm just grasping at draws. That might
(10:44):
be an option. They've got some relief pitching that the
Mariners might be interested in. Even though the Mariners relief
relief pitching with the injuries to Brash and Chriswell, still
are holding their own at at top of baseball as
far as bullpen era, question for you is Donovan. He
got off to a great start. Everybody was excited about it.
(11:05):
That was your third base answer for this season. And
he's been hurt for a long time. When is he
coming back? I know we went on a rehab, had
a real tough time. Recently he hit a home run.
They were a little bit upbeat about that. But Donovan,
is he going to be back? Is he going to
be factor down the stretch? That kind of weighs into
Jerry's decision when you know, making these decisions about who's
(11:27):
going to trade for well at the deadline.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
I'm glad that you mentioned the third base thing. We
can talk about that in a second because I got.
Speaker 5 (11:32):
Some numbers on it. I mean, third base has been
it's been a tragedy.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Just horrific, right, just going back to last year with
that stupid Planco experiment at third base, which took about
an hour to figure out the guy couldn't play third.
You know, they've got their twenty ninth in baseball in
ops at third base, thirtieth and average twenty fourth in bombs.
They got twenty four home runs in the last year
and a half out of third baseman, and thirteen of
(11:57):
them came from Suarez over two months. So everything else
they do with third base nothing works. I'm not convinced
Donovan's a long term answer. He'll be giving maybe that
first shot when he comes back healthy again. But why
has it been so unbelievably hard for them to find
an answer offensively defensively at third base.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Well, I think that's something that's just random. I think
it evid it flows. I think you look at the
Seattle Mariners at second base for a long time, ever
since Cano left, it's been like a what are we
going to do here? We tried every different combination, nothing worked.
All of a sudden, you got to double entendre. You've
got young, a young young playing second base who looks
(12:42):
to have a real bright future. So you see him
for the short term and the long term to have
second base. You're pretty upbeat about young in what you
see out of a out of a twenty two year old.
So second base has been solved now, all of a sudden,
third base has been that kind of empty space, like
what are we going to do here? And I don't
think it's any magic. There's no magic formula to oh,
(13:02):
we'll just sign this guy and he'll put him at
third and he'll be fine. No.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
I just think that's something that's just random, like just.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
So happens recently in Mariner history, third base has been
a problem for him. So I think that's something Jerry's
not looking in the short term. I think he's looking
long term, and that would be more of the offseason
right now. He's looking for a way to win games.
Well if it happens to be, if it happens to
be a third baseman, so be it, right. But I
don't think he's looking long term at third right now.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Part of the problem is you got a problem third
base defensively, left field defensively, right field defensively, first base defensively.
I mean that's four of your eight spots defensively that
you are subpar at. So that's got to be addressed
obviously over the offseason at some point. But Brett Boone
with us courtesy a Vania Kings Boone, you mentioned the Padres,
and I think you brought up Mason Miller there, and
(13:48):
you know, people wondering why the Padres would trade him, well,
because he's probably their biggest asset right to just restock
the system. If the Padres aren't going to be a
championship level team, the last thing you might need to
worry about as a closer. But Mariner fans have wondered,
do you make a move for Mason Miller, make him
your closer?
Speaker 5 (14:05):
Put Munno's in the eighth inning?
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Everybody gets bumped down, and that's less of a reason
to throw a Rucker or you know, no name from nowhere,
reliever Bizardo Ferrer. Everybody gets, you know, dropped down. He
just get that much more depth. Would you make a
move for Mason Miller or does and dress Munoz who's
been pitching great by the way lately, because he deserved
to stay on as your closer.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Yeah, but anytime you can add a Mason Miller. And
if that's something that ownership's okay with, if I'm the
general manager, oh it's okay to go get Mason Miller.
Of course, we go get Mason Miller. But you're gonna
have to get in line with twenty other teams that
probably outside is schooble. Mason Miller's probably the second biggest
target and maybe even a more popular that will bring
(14:49):
more into short term coming the other way because of
his control ability scooble for the most part, unless he
gets with the perfect organization that he wants to sign
long term. It has the finances to sign him long term,
and he's probably.
Speaker 4 (15:03):
Gonna break a record.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
From the pitching side, I think Mason Miller is the
guy that's gonna bring the biggest haul going the other way. Now,
the Padres are giving him something to think about. They
just rattled off five in a row right up to
the trade deadline. So now you're a little hesitant, you know,
maybe a week ago and think, oh, I'm gonna I'm
gonna find out how much I can get for Miller.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
But all of a sudden, they win five in a row.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Uh you know, now aj Preller sitting here and saying
die going wait a minute, we're right back in this thing.
So it's gonna be interesting how this weekend goes, how
how it plays out, as far as what goes on,
because some teams are are making it tough. Some some
players are rosters, are making it tough on their front
office right now by rattling off a bunch of wins.
Some are making equally tough going the other way and
(15:46):
losing a bunch of games.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
So I think that's why.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
This tradeline trade deadline is so awesome two months in advance,
right because so many cities, so many fan bases are upset.
They're either excited or they're pissed, but everybody's talking about
the game. I think I think it's great for the game.
There's a ton of intrigue, but a lot of these positions.
As a general manager, I wouldn't want to have to
make to make the decision because these decisions are tough.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
He used to be a lot easier.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
He used to be a month out less playoff teams,
and it was pretty clear cut you needed to add
or you needed to subtract. Right now, it's not clear cut.
There's twenty three teams in the playoff hunt right now.
That means twenty three cities that have to make a
decision whether they're going to buy, whether they're going to sell,
or whether they're going to stand.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Pat Yeah, I got one, two, three, four, five, six seven.
Ten teams in the American League are either leading their
division or within two and a half games of a
playoff spot, and the National League it's one two, three, four, five, six, seven,
eight nine. Twelve teams are either leading it or around
three games. So what is that twenty five teams? Whatever
(16:48):
it is I just mentioned, But I mean the big
story obviously Monday is going to be scooball right. I
know there's some folks that think he's on the way out.
He's saying all the right things. I want to stay here,
blah blah blah. I saw the Rays maybe going after him.
Imagine adding Scooble to the Rays for God's sakes. Uh, well,
where does he end up? Where should he go?
Speaker 3 (17:09):
My best guess he goes to the Dodgers. Dodgers swoop
in late and gets Scooble and just add to the
super team even more. You know, then you've got Blake
Snell and Blast Now on the on the uh been
on the shelf for the Dodgers for a long time,
and they still right up their best record in baseball, right.
They're just now now with the fact that O'tani, you know,
(17:31):
was off to that set. He had a cy young
first half, and all of a sudden they're gonna curtail
his pitching all of a sudden. That's all that Dodgers
need as an excuse to go get the most dominant
UH starter on the market, and that would be Schooble.
So it's not gonna surprise me one bit if the
Dodgers are the one that land him. I think when
push comes to shove and and if Detroit decides that
(17:53):
they're gonna part ways with Schooble, I think they're gonna
listen to everybody, and it's gonna come down to not
who they trade him to, who's the offering the most,
who's offering those prospects that our particular organization has gone
out and scouted and is the most puppied.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
And I think that's what it's going to come down to.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
If the Dodgers have the right package for him, right
and they give them the best.
Speaker 4 (18:12):
Deal, he's got to go to the Dodgers.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
But I think the Dodgers are going to be hot
and heavy aft after him, just because of the Otani
news and how unsure they are about his second half
and him going back on the mount.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Well, I know we're late, but let me ask you
one more. I mean, you don't often think about it
because the Mariners need relief help and they need offensive help,
and you think the one thing that they're kind of
okay with is their rotation right, well, the rotation has
been a little shaky as of late. You can always improve, right,
unless you've got Glavin, Maddox and Smoltz, you can always improve.
Should the Mariners get involved in the in the Scooball sweepstakes,
(18:46):
if it takes a Kate Anderson or a Ryan Sloan
or even a you know, Michael Arroyo or Sell Ustin
or you know whoever, throwing an Emerson Hancock who's under
contract for three or four more years, should they even
remotely think about that or is that just a gross
misuse of their capital considering the other needs they've gotten.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Well, I don't think it's misused. Once again, it's its ownership,
his ownership, okay with it, because you get Schooble. The
expectations as high as they were this year going in,
they even get higher, and that puts you mentioned the
pitching this week, this particular talented staff, and you know
how what I think of this staff, They're as talented
as anybody.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
They haven't they haven't.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Pitched lately like that. I looked at the last week,
probably the worst week from this particular group of starting
pitchers for the Mariners that they've ever had. I mean,
you start off with Miller giving up five WU five.
Gilbert was the best, he only gave up three. Then
Kirby gives up a seven spot to Texas. I think
it sends a message to not only the league if
they were to get somebody like a Trek Schooble, but
(19:50):
especially the Texas Rangers. Think about this a year ago.
The one thing I would think after the because you
guys had our number last year when I rolled into
Seattle and you guys kind of beat us pretty good.
You beat us in Texas, and as the hitting coach,
I didn't say anything to the players. That wouldn't be
my spot. But I remember I walked out of Seattle
going wow, and we were in the playoff on at
(20:11):
that point, I thought, I hope if we get to
the postseason, we don't draw Seattle, because I'll tell you what,
they've got our number. Well, I think watching this Texas
series and Texas taking three out of four this last week,
I think the script has been completely flipped and now
Texas feels like Seattle did a year ago about the
other team, if that makes sense. So I think a
(20:32):
school will move man that would put Texas on notice.
And by the way, Houston's coming, they're only half a
game out as of today with Texas's loss, so that's
going to be a tight I think it's going to
be a fight to the end between Texas, Houston, and Seattle.
And it matters how you know from here on out
who wants it the most. But Texas definitely has the
(20:53):
advantage right now with the recent play between the two teams.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
The head to head.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
It's as players, you don't allow that to affect your postseason.
Is oh, just because they have our number. But we're
all human beings and they you know, when you've lost
six of eight from a particular team come postseason, that's
in the back of your mind. It's not the most
important factor, but it's a little nuance. It's a little advantager,
and you're looking for the little advantages in the postseason.
(21:19):
The advantage Texas has over Seattle right now, so you
can kind of look at each other and go, you know,
we've got your number this year, right, And that's something little,
but it can be the difference maker. So I think
all factors are on the table right now, and it's
gonna be.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
An interesting race, all right, Go get him we'll talking
a week, buddy, appreciate it, pal, you got them out
there all right, Red Moon with us on the radio show,
Brian Woo versus Rookie Sasaki tonight. I am calling it
this nonsense what Brian Wiu ends tonight book at baby,
And if I'm wrong, then we'll just forget this segment.
We're gonna break textimonials for forty five. Petro Spapadakis normally
(21:52):
with us on Wednesdays of four. He'll join a five
tonight right here on ninety three three KJRFM.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
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Speaker 5 (22:19):
Yeah, I got time.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Really, I'm really feeling this Brian Woo thing that night, Jackson.
I'm really feeling it, man, really feeling confident and good
about our buddy, Brian Wu. Are you Are you with
me by the way on the Yeah, Brian Woo steps
up and shoves Tonight in La.
Speaker 5 (22:32):
You're not okay.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Well, look, I mean you've got real reasons to think
the opposite.
Speaker 5 (22:36):
He's been. He's been terrible on the road, you know.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
I mean the numbers again, just so people don't know,
I mean, Brian wu has a two point two ERA
at home, six point five two on the road, six
and oho at home, one in seven on the road.
He's got a batting average against almost double. By the way,
one sixty seven to three h four is ops uh
eight twenty three away from t Mobile Park. And like
we said earlier, in his last six games seven point
(23:02):
seven to one ERA. This is last six road games,
and every single one he's allowed four runs or more.
So this is not like, remember what Andres Muno has
had that barfball in San Diego earlier this year and
he spent like the next two months bringing his ERA down.
Speaker 5 (23:17):
That's not what this is all about. This is not
about a guy who went out.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
To Tiger Stadium or co America Park I guess it
is now have been Tiger Stadium for like one hundred years,
minute made whatever and had a terrible game and spent
the next month, you know, bringing his RA down from
ridiculous levels. He has been terrible in every single road
start he's made in the last six starts, I mean
(23:44):
six hits against Kansas City, nine against the Tigers, seven
at Baltimore, six at Pittsburgh.
Speaker 5 (23:51):
Nine at Miami, nine at Texas.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
It just he's just getting beat to hell like a
freaking judge machine out there. So you have every right
and reason, logically, yes, to think the way you do.
Do you feel, though, and do you agree at some
point that streak's gonna end?
Speaker 5 (24:10):
Absolutely? At some point.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
You know.
Speaker 6 (24:11):
It's like when you flip a coin and if it
keeps coming up heads six times, right, you know in
your heart that eventually it will come up tails.
Speaker 4 (24:19):
Right.
Speaker 6 (24:19):
But if it comes up heads six times in a row, correct,
you know that I'm not betting that it comes up
tails the next time.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
So I have this thing that I do when I
go to the Emerald Queen Casino and I look at
the Alett table and they have that screen that shows
you the last you know, twenty five spins whatever. And
if I see a screen that's got like seven reds
in a row or seven blacks in a row, I
will sprint my ass right to that wheel and put
money on the exact op.
Speaker 6 (24:45):
Despite the fact that statistically it does not matter correct
the previous ones correct.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
But even if it doesn't hit on that one, I'll
keep going and going and going.
Speaker 5 (24:55):
And going until it does.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Now, eventually, what's gonna eventually happen is it's gonna hit green.
It's what's gonna it's gonna hit double zero, It's what's
gonna happen. So I just feel like tonight is a
run to the rolette table. It's a run to the
rolette table type of night for Brian Wu with how
terrible he's been on the road, and I feel good
about how much money? Do I have any real basis to.
Speaker 5 (25:17):
Back it up? No, No, just the odds, just the numbers,
that's it.
Speaker 6 (25:22):
How much money you're gonna lose tonight, that's it.
Speaker 5 (25:24):
I mean, I'll put a couple of bucks on them.
They got plush money tonight.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
So but I feel like we should have some fun
with this, Like let's do a contest, right, and whether
it's on Twitter or whatever, I put a tweet out
or about Brian Wu. If you agree with me that
Brian Wu will shove it tonight, go retweet it. If
you don't, then like it. Oh whatever, right. I wish
there was a better way to do that. Go to
Softy kJ R and I'll explain this on Twitter and
(25:51):
whatever happens, right, we'll just agree that, you know, a
good start, good start, bad start, whatever.
Speaker 5 (25:56):
Right.
Speaker 6 (25:57):
I think the line there is very simple because we
said earlier that he has not had a good start,
and that includes an outing where he had five innings
and four runs.
Speaker 5 (26:05):
Right, So I would.
Speaker 6 (26:06):
Say four Brian Wu on the road. Okay, five innings
are more and three runs are less would constitute I
did start for Brian Wu.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Well, comparatively speaking, it would, right, It's still not great.
Speaker 5 (26:18):
Stump it for Brian Wright.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
I mean, the best start that these guys have had
in the last six games is exactly that with Logan
Gilbert when he went I was at Kirby five and
two thirds and three earns, So that was Gilbert by
the way. So okay, fine, I was going to say
quality start, you know, six and three the old Bill
James deal. But five and three is fine, right, more
than five three or less? Whatever. Get to the Twitter
(26:39):
and we'll figure it out. I'll explain all this as
well on the on the Twitter account of South the KJR.
I was going to I was going to dive into
what happened to the Storm game the other night with
this owner and the Fever game, And I do think
i'd like to get to this at some point today.
Celeste Key, I believe it is her name. If I'm
(27:02):
getting her name wrong, I apologize. I'm just gonna say
this and we can talk about it later on the night.
Sometimes I feel weird, Jackson. I don't know about you,
but I feel weird kind of sticking my nose in
topics that we don't really usually discuss on the air.
But I do also think that every now and then
(27:23):
there's a topic that comes up that transcends sports, that
becomes a mainstream deal, becomes a national story, and it's
hard to ignore it. Like, I'll be honest with you, man,
I don't watch a lot of swimming, but in the
Olympics every four years, I do. Right, Lots of folks
out there don't watch a ton of soccer, but maybe
(27:43):
in the World Cup they do.
Speaker 5 (27:45):
Right. Maybe you don't watch a lot of golf, but
you watch the Masters every year? Right?
Speaker 2 (27:49):
I mean, how does the Super Bowl get one hundred
million gajillion people? Because P two S and P three's
and the casuals come to pay attention to the biggest
event the country has to offer. So when I go
on the Times website today, for example, and I see
this as front page news on the Times, it made
front page news on ESPN dot com, It's all over
(28:12):
the non sports sites, Fox, CNN, MSNBC, whatever. Everybody is
picking this thing up. So I get it, right. I
get how there's people out there that would say, God,
you never talk WNBA, and then when you do, it's
about something bad. Well, sometimes that's what the league is
all about. The NBA feeds on drama. There's no doubt
(28:33):
the NBA feeds on drama. Dick and I have talked
about that before, and I'll be honest with you right now.
For me, I have way more interest in the drama
that's going on in the WNBA that I do the
basketball itself. And I think there's people out there, like
Dick that would say any pub is good pub. He
mentioned that to Jerry a couple weeks ago. This is
bringing a lot of eyeballs, whether good or bad, to
(28:55):
the WNBA, and a lot of people are talking about this,
so I think it's one of those stories. The WNBA
would rather have not happened. But I do wonder in
the end if this thing is just going to get
so big and so dramatic that this will become a
daily talking point for people, whether or not their w
(29:15):
NBA fans or not. That's how big it's getting, because
it seems like every single night, every single week, there's
some kind of shenanigans for non basketball reasons coming out
of the WNBA.
Speaker 6 (29:28):
Well, I think we're gonna diet it on phone with
audio tomorrow. Okay, but there was a tweet, Oh, you
can say now, so we're gonna hear tomorrow. There was
a tweet from the WNBA, the actual league account that
played and had a social media person narrating a bet
that took place between Angel Reese and was it Page
(29:49):
Buker's yeh, Becker's He's correct correct? A bet that took
place over four hundred dollars for who is going to
win the WNBA All Star Game? The league twitter account
I sent this video and then quickly deleted it when
the league realized, yeah, wait a seconds, them betting over
the All Star Game violates league rules, so they quickly
deleted it. When the league itself posts stuff like that
(30:13):
that's like, come on, yeah, clearly your players can't do this,
Why are you promoting it?
Speaker 5 (30:19):
It just makes your league look, you know, minor league.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
Yeah, I mean it's it feels like and I'm again,
we're going to run out of time here, but it
feels like and this is just a perception I have.
This may not be based in anything regarding reality. The
perception that I've got about the WNBA right now is
that they're having a bit of a hard time handling
their success. Yeah, okay, for whatever reason, right, whether because
(30:45):
of race related reasons, sexual preference, gender related reasons, new
fans showing up, whatever, they're having a hard time handling
this success. And the hope is that they eventually figure
this out. Right, But I'll just say this that I
think there's a perception from some people that the WNBA
(31:06):
fan base, some players, some coaches, that they're more about
other things first, second, and third besides basketball, right, and
you can't reason with them. There's no room for discussion
or debate. And if you don't think the way they do,
then you feel like you're an outcast in their arenas
(31:26):
and in their field of play. And I think what
happened last night or is it two nights ago? Two
nights ago? Right at Climate Pledge Arena with the owner
going after these fans for right or wrong just feeds
into those perceptions. And it was a massive mistake by
them to do that, massive and I'm glad the WNBA
(31:48):
took the approach that they did. And I'm actually kind
of looking forward to hearing if Celeste Keaton in the
end actually has anything to say about what happened the
other night, because to me, it's a story. Whether you
like it or not, it's a story. It's all over
the news, front page news, mainstream news. This is not
just a sports topic. By the way, all right, we're
(32:08):
gonna break textimonials four nine four five one Petros normally
on Wednesday at four He's gonna hop on a five
tonight about that. What a treat, What a treat for
the five o'clock Thursday crowd. Coming up on ninety three
three KJRFM
I mean to you. Live from our Elliott Avenue studios
of Sports Radio ninety three point three KJR FM. It's
time for our weekly conversation with former Mariners all star
Bret Boone, brought to you by Venue Kings. Visit venue
kings dot com for all your ticket needs. Now with Boony,
here's SOFTI in Dick.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
All right, we're back on a busy Thursday. Softy Dick
Jackson with no dick today.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Yes, it's true, this man has no dick.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
It's my pleasure, of my honor, and welcome in one
of my favorite mannues of all time. I call him
a friend. All courtesy of our pals at venue kings
dot com. Get your Seahawk tickets at venue kings dot com.
Husky tickets, be sure and use code Softy at checkout
at venue kings dot com. Although, if you're looking at
storm tickets by the way on the website at venue
(00:47):
kings dot com, uh it, make sure you get a
seat in the upper deck because that's as far away
from the owner as you can get. They might go
nuts on you broody. How are you Palwit's going on?
Speaker 4 (00:58):
Hey, Softie? What's up?
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Not much nothing, enjoyed some sunny southern California weather.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
It's a beautiful day up here in Seatt I'm going
I'll tell you what, It'd be a lot prettier if
the MS could get this win against Texas or excuse me,
the Dodgers and take this series tonight. Uh, let's start
with the obvious question. Brian Wu has been horrific on
the road, and Jackson and I were talking about the
numbers boony earlier today that it's not it's not really
about one or two bad starts that has inflated his era.
(01:28):
This is six consecutive starts where he's just been awful
by his standards, four earned runs or more in every
single start, he's got a seven point seven to one
e RA and his last six road starts, I think
it breaks tonight and the Brian Wu gets it done.
Maybe I'm being just you know, wishful thinking here, but
(01:48):
Brian Wu on the road has been a disaster. Is
there any part of you that thinks tonight will be
any different?
Speaker 4 (01:55):
Well? I think you know.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Part of Wu's charm is he's he's a he's very
honest with the press. He tells you what he's thinking.
He tells you when he's good, he tells you when
he's bad.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
And at the big at the big league level, I
never really worry about trends that much.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Now they start to stack up over a course of
a season, you start to worry about what I worry
about this? And I watched is his last start against Texas.
He looked like a completely different pitcher than when I
was on the field a year ago. Watching him pitch
on the road against US in Texas, and I almost
I started to wonder. I said, he's so candid, and
he's so honest about how bad he's been on the
(02:37):
road and talks about it so much.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
Is this starting to seep in?
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Like when he takes the mound on the road, his
mind starts to say, here we go again, and the
first bad thing that happens it just you can get
that mental if you if you tell yourself something, yourself
something long enough, it starts to come out in the results.
And I'm starting to wonder if he's you know, the
candid part is what you love about somebody, the honesty,
(03:03):
But in the end it could be a detriment. It's
like you've talked about it so much, and I watched
that Texas start. It didn't even look like Brian Wu.
It looked like somebody I've never seen pitch before the
way he started off that game.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
And so let's stop talking about it. Let's go pitch.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Yeah, maybe on that back when we were doing the
six man rotation and the piggyback, maybe we just said
should have had Castillo pitch.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
On the road and Wu pitch at home. Right, Well,
maybe that was the way to go.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Now I'm kidding, I'm half kidding when I say that,
but yeah, this is something that's kind of snowballed, and yeah,
at some point you just got to say, I just
got to be a man, go out there and pitch
like I'm capable of pitching, no matter the venue.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
No, I mean, it's not crazy at all, boonie, because
I think if I've got my facts right, and there's
a chance I don't that Bryce Miller was supposed to
pitch in this game today and he had to take
an extra day off because he's banged up, and he's
going to pitch Friday against Minnesota at home. That's where
Brian Wu was supposed to pitch. So they were gonna
this is two road starts for him on this Texas
(04:03):
La trip versus just the one. So you're exactly right
about that number one and then number two. I mean,
I hate to bring this up, but you've brought it
up before. Look, I mean, you play a long time
in the big leagues. You're gonna have some parks that
you rake in, other parks that you don't rake in.
You mentioned Camden Yards. You had a career batting average
at two hundred or a five ninety four.
Speaker 5 (04:23):
Ops. Maybe you felt terrible.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
You go to Anaheim, You're hitting three fifty with a
ten thirty nine.
Speaker 5 (04:29):
Ops. You killed it there. You had confidence.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Everyone that plays golf has that one hole that they
dread that drives them bananas. I think what you're talking
about is a real deal. That he's probably got this
in his brain every road start. Oh my god, here
we go again. You had to feel that way when
you went to Camden Yards.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
I felt that way when I went to Camdwyard. But
I think you know, one day I hit a big
grand slam there. Yeah, so it's not like but I
didn't talk about it going in, right, No, I thought, Hey,
I'm gonna I'm gonna write the ship here and some
of the all parks where I just didn't feel I
didn't see the ball. Well, the backdrop was different. You know,
I can make every excuse in the world, but you can't.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
You can't narrow it.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Yeah, it's one thing having a phobia about going to
Camden Yards. It's another thing going anywhere on the road.
You know, it's like a pitcher going into Colorado in
the early days. It's like it's not the greatest place
to pitch, but it's just one time we have to
go there. And and all of us as players, pitchers,
hitters alike, you're gonna have your favorite road venues and
(05:30):
your and your and your most un fun places to
go on the road. But you can't when it starts
to to to expand into everywhere on the road, then
it becomes a problem, and it's something we we just
got to stop talking about it. We just have to
go out there and pitch, because obviously this stuff speaks
for itself when he's on Uh, there's no reason that
(05:51):
just because it's a road. You know, I can understand
one mound on the road, I don't I don't match
up with that mound, But you can't say I don't
match you up with anything that's outside of T Mobile Park.
Speaker 5 (06:02):
On hundred percent right.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
This is a different story because it's every road gaming pitches,
not just what I mean. I hate Yankee Stadium. You know,
I can't stand pitching at Fenway whatever. Man, that's nothing
with this is well, okay, dude, there are two games out,
they win the night, they're a game and a half out, whatever,
two and a half, game and a half. You got
four games left until the trading deadline on Monday at
three o'clock. Three games series with the Twins, which apparently
(06:25):
Buxton's not gonna play because the guy just hit the
ten day IL. So that's great, we're not seeing him
over the weekend. But I mean, if you're Jerry Depoto,
are you in it? Are you not in it?
Speaker 5 (06:36):
Are you?
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Are you mortgaging some prospects to get better? Are you
trading a couple of starting pitchers to get better?
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Like?
Speaker 5 (06:44):
What do you think of your team right now?
Speaker 1 (06:47):
No?
Speaker 3 (06:47):
This was kind of an enlightening moment for me this
this week. I had Jim Bowden on and we were
talking about trade deadlines. Now, he's an ext general manager.
This is what he does. This is his Wheelhouse getting
ready and ready for the trade deadline. And I put
that to him and I said, and I said, Jimmy,
what do you do it? He said, Brett, at this
(07:09):
stage of the game, if you're worth your salt as
a general manager, you don't make emotional decisions. You know
if you've got a playoff team, a playoff team that
can go deep into the postseason, and if you don't
have a playoff team that can do that, that's how
you make your decisions. You don't wait till the last minute.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
He said.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
That's what general managers that shouldn't be general managers do.
He goes, at this stage in the game, as a
general manager with a week to go, I know whether
I'm building on this team. Obviously you've got to be
within a reasonable amount of games. But he said, I
know if we've got a championship team, and I know
if I don't. And that's how I make my decisions.
I don't get emotional. Now the ownership comes in, what
(07:47):
do they want to do? Because he said he said
he made a good point too, He said, the owner
of the team, he goes. The only way I can
make the final decision if I have the money to
go buy a team, as long as I don't have
the money to go buy a team. Obviously I have
to honor my owner. But as a general manager, I
don't make emotional decisions. So Jerry looking at this team,
looking at what they did a year ago, looking at
the same personnel, He's probably looking at this division being
(08:09):
the weakest division in baseball. He's got to take all
these things into consideration, and I think, say, yeah, we
can win the division. I was looking at this division.
It might be easier to win this division than it
is to get a wild card berth this year. So
I think you look on paper, you look at the division,
and he say, of course we're in it. Now we
(08:30):
still need a right handed bat.
Speaker 5 (08:31):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
I was thinking. San Diego Padres are in a similar position.
I think they're two games out of a wild card spot.
On paper, they have stars all over the plate offensively
in the bullpen, but they're starting pitching is Let's be honest,
it's weak. After King, it's pretty much a bunch of
fourth and fifth starters. They need a starting pitching is
Seattle and Padres a good matchup when it comes to
(08:54):
you got a guy, an old friend of the Mariners,
like a ty Franz's having a great who's having a
great year for the San Diego Padres.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
Would that be in the mix?
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Padres need starting pitching so and they also have a
lot of bullpen depth in San Diego, So is that
a good matchup.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
These are just things I'm thrown out, but I think
at the deadline, I think Jerry's going to go out
and he's going to try to make this team better
before Monday.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
My concern about ty France, Look, it was the right
decision to let him go, and it potentially would be
the right decision to bring him back. But his success
since he left here in twenty twenty four, all of it,
for the most part, has come in San Diego. With
the Padres, he's got an eight to seventy seven.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
I don't even think Softie, I don't think they were
planning on him to be a big factor this year.
Right with their offensive woes with the Machado and the
Tatis and the Merrill for the first half were non existent,
ty Franz picked up a lot of that slack and
has been kind of the can zone of the Seattle Mariners.
They weren't planning on Canzone being the leading home run
(10:02):
hitter right now and leading that offense, but he has
been that. Ty France is very similar to what can
Zone's done for the Mariners. That's what ty France is
doing for the Padres. Yeah, and I don't know. I'm
kind of grasping at straws right now, but I keep
thinking about right handed bats and do you want a
prolific right handed bat? Well, how many of are really available? Well,
(10:23):
Ty Frances kind of in the middle. He's not prolific,
but he's doing more than a Platoons player is doing
right now. You know, he's got an ops I think
of eight fifty or better. He's hitting, He's got fifteen
home runs, he's hitting two eighty something. He's doing a
real good job for the Padres. And I get to
watch him because I live in the city, so I've
seen that. So I'm just grasping at draws. That might
(10:44):
be an option. They've got some relief pitching that the
Mariners might be interested in. Even though the Mariners relief
relief pitching with the injuries to Brash and Chriswell, still
are holding their own at at top of baseball as
far as bullpen era, question for you is Donovan. He
got off to a great start. Everybody was excited about it.
(11:05):
That was your third base answer for this season. And
he's been hurt for a long time. When is he
coming back? I know we went on a rehab, had
a real tough time. Recently he hit a home run.
They were a little bit upbeat about that. But Donovan,
is he going to be back? Is he going to
be factor down the stretch? That kind of weighs into
Jerry's decision when you know, making these decisions about who's
(11:27):
going to trade for well at the deadline.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
I'm glad that you mentioned the third base thing. We
can talk about that in a second because I got.
Speaker 5 (11:32):
Some numbers on it. I mean, third base has been
it's been a tragedy.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Just horrific, right, just going back to last year with
that stupid Planco experiment at third base, which took about
an hour to figure out the guy couldn't play third.
You know, they've got their twenty ninth in baseball in
ops at third base, thirtieth and average twenty fourth in bombs.
They got twenty four home runs in the last year
and a half out of third baseman, and thirteen of
(11:57):
them came from Suarez over two months. So everything else
they do with third base nothing works. I'm not convinced
Donovan's a long term answer. He'll be giving maybe that
first shot when he comes back healthy again. But why
has it been so unbelievably hard for them to find
an answer offensively defensively at third base.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Well, I think that's something that's just random. I think
it evid it flows. I think you look at the
Seattle Mariners at second base for a long time, ever
since Cano left, it's been like a what are we
going to do here? We tried every different combination, nothing worked.
All of a sudden, you got to double entendre. You've
got young, a young young playing second base who looks
(12:42):
to have a real bright future. So you see him
for the short term and the long term to have
second base. You're pretty upbeat about young in what you
see out of a out of a twenty two year old.
So second base has been solved now, all of a sudden,
third base has been that kind of empty space, like
what are we going to do here? And I don't
think it's any magic. There's no magic formula to oh,
(13:02):
we'll just sign this guy and he'll put him at
third and he'll be fine. No.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
I just think that's something that's just random, like just.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
So happens recently in Mariner history, third base has been
a problem for him. So I think that's something Jerry's
not looking in the short term. I think he's looking
long term, and that would be more of the offseason
right now. He's looking for a way to win games.
Well if it happens to be, if it happens to
be a third baseman, so be it, right. But I
don't think he's looking long term at third right now.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Part of the problem is you got a problem third
base defensively, left field defensively, right field defensively, first base defensively.
I mean that's four of your eight spots defensively that
you are subpar at. So that's got to be addressed
obviously over the offseason at some point. But Brett Boone
with us courtesy a Vania Kings Boone, you mentioned the Padres,
and I think you brought up Mason Miller there, and
(13:48):
you know, people wondering why the Padres would trade him, well,
because he's probably their biggest asset right to just restock
the system. If the Padres aren't going to be a
championship level team, the last thing you might need to
worry about as a closer. But Mariner fans have wondered,
do you make a move for Mason Miller, make him
your closer?
Speaker 5 (14:05):
Put Munno's in the eighth inning?
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Everybody gets bumped down, and that's less of a reason
to throw a Rucker or you know, no name from nowhere,
reliever Bizardo Ferrer. Everybody gets, you know, dropped down. He
just get that much more depth. Would you make a
move for Mason Miller or does and dress Munoz who's
been pitching great by the way lately, because he deserved
to stay on as your closer.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Yeah, but anytime you can add a Mason Miller. And
if that's something that ownership's okay with, if I'm the
general manager, oh it's okay to go get Mason Miller.
Of course, we go get Mason Miller. But you're gonna
have to get in line with twenty other teams that
probably outside is schooble. Mason Miller's probably the second biggest
target and maybe even a more popular that will bring
(14:49):
more into short term coming the other way because of
his control ability scooble for the most part, unless he
gets with the perfect organization that he wants to sign
long term. It has the finances to sign him long term,
and he's probably.
Speaker 4 (15:03):
Gonna break a record.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
From the pitching side, I think Mason Miller is the
guy that's gonna bring the biggest haul going the other way. Now,
the Padres are giving him something to think about. They
just rattled off five in a row right up to
the trade deadline. So now you're a little hesitant, you know,
maybe a week ago and think, oh, I'm gonna I'm
gonna find out how much I can get for Miller.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
But all of a sudden, they win five in a row.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Uh you know, now aj Preller sitting here and saying
die going wait a minute, we're right back in this thing.
So it's gonna be interesting how this weekend goes, how
how it plays out, as far as what goes on,
because some teams are are making it tough. Some some
players are rosters, are making it tough on their front
office right now by rattling off a bunch of wins.
Some are making equally tough going the other way and
(15:46):
losing a bunch of games.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
So I think that's why.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
This tradeline trade deadline is so awesome two months in advance,
right because so many cities, so many fan bases are upset.
They're either excited or they're pissed, but everybody's talking about
the game. I think I think it's great for the game.
There's a ton of intrigue, but a lot of these positions.
As a general manager, I wouldn't want to have to
make to make the decision because these decisions are tough.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
He used to be a lot easier.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
He used to be a month out less playoff teams,
and it was pretty clear cut you needed to add
or you needed to subtract. Right now, it's not clear cut.
There's twenty three teams in the playoff hunt right now.
That means twenty three cities that have to make a
decision whether they're going to buy, whether they're going to sell,
or whether they're going to stand.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Pat Yeah, I got one, two, three, four, five, six seven.
Ten teams in the American League are either leading their
division or within two and a half games of a
playoff spot, and the National League it's one two, three, four, five, six, seven,
eight nine. Twelve teams are either leading it or around
three games. So what is that twenty five teams? Whatever
(16:48):
it is I just mentioned, But I mean the big
story obviously Monday is going to be scooball right. I
know there's some folks that think he's on the way out.
He's saying all the right things. I want to stay here,
blah blah blah. I saw the Rays maybe going after him.
Imagine adding Scooble to the Rays for God's sakes. Uh, well,
where does he end up? Where should he go?
Speaker 3 (17:09):
My best guess he goes to the Dodgers. Dodgers swoop
in late and gets Scooble and just add to the
super team even more. You know, then you've got Blake
Snell and Blast Now on the on the uh been
on the shelf for the Dodgers for a long time,
and they still right up their best record in baseball, right.
They're just now now with the fact that O'tani, you know,
(17:31):
was off to that set. He had a cy young
first half, and all of a sudden they're gonna curtail
his pitching all of a sudden. That's all that Dodgers
need as an excuse to go get the most dominant
UH starter on the market, and that would be Schooble.
So it's not gonna surprise me one bit if the
Dodgers are the one that land him. I think when
push comes to shove and and if Detroit decides that
(17:53):
they're gonna part ways with Schooble, I think they're gonna
listen to everybody, and it's gonna come down to not
who they trade him to, who's the offering the most,
who's offering those prospects that our particular organization has gone
out and scouted and is the most puppied.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
And I think that's what it's going to come down to.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
If the Dodgers have the right package for him, right
and they give them the best.
Speaker 4 (18:12):
Deal, he's got to go to the Dodgers.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
But I think the Dodgers are going to be hot
and heavy aft after him, just because of the Otani
news and how unsure they are about his second half
and him going back on the mount.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Well, I know we're late, but let me ask you
one more. I mean, you don't often think about it
because the Mariners need relief help and they need offensive help,
and you think the one thing that they're kind of
okay with is their rotation right, well, the rotation has
been a little shaky as of late. You can always improve, right,
unless you've got Glavin, Maddox and Smoltz, you can always improve.
Should the Mariners get involved in the in the Scooball sweepstakes,
(18:46):
if it takes a Kate Anderson or a Ryan Sloan
or even a you know, Michael Arroyo or Sell Ustin
or you know whoever, throwing an Emerson Hancock who's under
contract for three or four more years, should they even
remotely think about that or is that just a gross
misuse of their capital considering the other needs they've gotten.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Well, I don't think it's misused. Once again, it's its ownership,
his ownership, okay with it, because you get Schooble. The
expectations as high as they were this year going in,
they even get higher, and that puts you mentioned the
pitching this week, this particular talented staff, and you know
how what I think of this staff, They're as talented
as anybody.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
They haven't they haven't.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Pitched lately like that. I looked at the last week,
probably the worst week from this particular group of starting
pitchers for the Mariners that they've ever had. I mean,
you start off with Miller giving up five WU five.
Gilbert was the best, he only gave up three. Then
Kirby gives up a seven spot to Texas. I think
it sends a message to not only the league if
they were to get somebody like a Trek Schooble, but
(19:50):
especially the Texas Rangers. Think about this a year ago.
The one thing I would think after the because you
guys had our number last year when I rolled into
Seattle and you guys kind of beat us pretty good.
You beat us in Texas, and as the hitting coach,
I didn't say anything to the players. That wouldn't be
my spot. But I remember I walked out of Seattle
going wow, and we were in the playoff on at
(20:11):
that point, I thought, I hope if we get to
the postseason, we don't draw Seattle, because I'll tell you what,
they've got our number. Well, I think watching this Texas
series and Texas taking three out of four this last week,
I think the script has been completely flipped and now
Texas feels like Seattle did a year ago about the
other team, if that makes sense. So I think a
(20:32):
school will move man that would put Texas on notice.
And by the way, Houston's coming, they're only half a
game out as of today with Texas's loss, so that's
going to be a tight I think it's going to
be a fight to the end between Texas, Houston, and Seattle.
And it matters how you know from here on out
who wants it the most. But Texas definitely has the
(20:53):
advantage right now with the recent play between the two teams.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
The head to head.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
It's as players, you don't allow that to affect your postseason.
Is oh, just because they have our number. But we're
all human beings and they you know, when you've lost
six of eight from a particular team come postseason, that's
in the back of your mind. It's not the most
important factor, but it's a little nuance. It's a little advantager,
and you're looking for the little advantages in the postseason.
(21:19):
The advantage Texas has over Seattle right now, so you
can kind of look at each other and go, you know,
we've got your number this year, right, And that's something little,
but it can be the difference maker. So I think
all factors are on the table right now, and it's
gonna be.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
An interesting race, all right, Go get him we'll talking
a week, buddy, appreciate it, pal, you got them out
there all right, Red Moon with us on the radio show,
Brian Woo versus Rookie Sasaki tonight. I am calling it
this nonsense what Brian Wiu ends tonight book at baby,
And if I'm wrong, then we'll just forget this segment.
We're gonna break textimonials for forty five. Petro Spapadakis normally
(21:52):
with us on Wednesdays of four. He'll join a five
tonight right here on ninety three three KJRFM.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Now back, just Suffian did. Brought to you by Emerald
Queen Casino, bringing you the best in live music, entertainment, dining,
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Speaker 5 (22:19):
Yeah, I got time.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Really, I'm really feeling this Brian Woo thing that night, Jackson.
I'm really feeling it, man, really feeling confident and good
about our buddy, Brian Wu. Are you Are you with
me by the way on the Yeah, Brian Woo steps
up and shoves Tonight in La.
Speaker 5 (22:32):
You're not okay.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Well, look, I mean you've got real reasons to think
the opposite.
Speaker 5 (22:36):
He's been. He's been terrible on the road, you know.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
I mean the numbers again, just so people don't know,
I mean, Brian wu has a two point two ERA
at home, six point five two on the road, six
and oho at home, one in seven on the road.
He's got a batting average against almost double. By the way,
one sixty seven to three h four is ops uh
eight twenty three away from t Mobile Park. And like
we said earlier, in his last six games seven point
(23:02):
seven to one ERA. This is last six road games,
and every single one he's allowed four runs or more.
So this is not like, remember what Andres Muno has
had that barfball in San Diego earlier this year and
he spent like the next two months bringing his ERA down.
Speaker 5 (23:17):
That's not what this is all about. This is not
about a guy who went out.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
To Tiger Stadium or co America Park I guess it
is now have been Tiger Stadium for like one hundred years,
minute made whatever and had a terrible game and spent
the next month, you know, bringing his RA down from
ridiculous levels. He has been terrible in every single road
start he's made in the last six starts, I mean
(23:44):
six hits against Kansas City, nine against the Tigers, seven
at Baltimore, six at Pittsburgh.
Speaker 5 (23:51):
Nine at Miami, nine at Texas.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
It just he's just getting beat to hell like a
freaking judge machine out there. So you have every right
and reason, logically, yes, to think the way you do.
Do you feel, though, and do you agree at some
point that streak's gonna end?
Speaker 5 (24:10):
Absolutely? At some point.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
You know.
Speaker 6 (24:11):
It's like when you flip a coin and if it
keeps coming up heads six times, right, you know in
your heart that eventually it will come up tails.
Speaker 4 (24:19):
Right.
Speaker 6 (24:19):
But if it comes up heads six times in a row, correct,
you know that I'm not betting that it comes up
tails the next time.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
So I have this thing that I do when I
go to the Emerald Queen Casino and I look at
the Alett table and they have that screen that shows
you the last you know, twenty five spins whatever. And
if I see a screen that's got like seven reds
in a row or seven blacks in a row, I
will sprint my ass right to that wheel and put
money on the exact op.
Speaker 6 (24:45):
Despite the fact that statistically it does not matter correct
the previous ones correct.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
But even if it doesn't hit on that one, I'll
keep going and going and going.
Speaker 5 (24:55):
And going until it does.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Now, eventually, what's gonna eventually happen is it's gonna hit green.
It's what's gonna it's gonna hit double zero, It's what's
gonna happen. So I just feel like tonight is a
run to the rolette table. It's a run to the
rolette table type of night for Brian Wu with how
terrible he's been on the road, and I feel good
about how much money? Do I have any real basis to.
Speaker 5 (25:17):
Back it up? No, No, just the odds, just the numbers,
that's it.
Speaker 6 (25:22):
How much money you're gonna lose tonight, that's it.
Speaker 5 (25:24):
I mean, I'll put a couple of bucks on them.
They got plush money tonight.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
So but I feel like we should have some fun
with this, Like let's do a contest, right, and whether
it's on Twitter or whatever, I put a tweet out
or about Brian Wu. If you agree with me that
Brian Wu will shove it tonight, go retweet it. If
you don't, then like it. Oh whatever, right. I wish
there was a better way to do that. Go to
Softy kJ R and I'll explain this on Twitter and
(25:51):
whatever happens, right, we'll just agree that, you know, a
good start, good start, bad start, whatever.
Speaker 5 (25:56):
Right.
Speaker 6 (25:57):
I think the line there is very simple because we
said earlier that he has not had a good start,
and that includes an outing where he had five innings
and four runs.
Speaker 5 (26:05):
Right, So I would.
Speaker 6 (26:06):
Say four Brian Wu on the road. Okay, five innings
are more and three runs are less would constitute I
did start for Brian Wu.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Well, comparatively speaking, it would, right, It's still not great.
Speaker 5 (26:18):
Stump it for Brian Wright.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
I mean, the best start that these guys have had
in the last six games is exactly that with Logan
Gilbert when he went I was at Kirby five and
two thirds and three earns, So that was Gilbert by
the way. So okay, fine, I was going to say
quality start, you know, six and three the old Bill
James deal. But five and three is fine, right, more
than five three or less? Whatever. Get to the Twitter
(26:39):
and we'll figure it out. I'll explain all this as
well on the on the Twitter account of South the KJR.
I was going to I was going to dive into
what happened to the Storm game the other night with
this owner and the Fever game, And I do think
i'd like to get to this at some point today.
Celeste Key, I believe it is her name. If I'm
(27:02):
getting her name wrong, I apologize. I'm just gonna say
this and we can talk about it later on the night.
Sometimes I feel weird, Jackson. I don't know about you,
but I feel weird kind of sticking my nose in
topics that we don't really usually discuss on the air.
But I do also think that every now and then
(27:23):
there's a topic that comes up that transcends sports, that
becomes a mainstream deal, becomes a national story, and it's
hard to ignore it. Like, I'll be honest with you, man,
I don't watch a lot of swimming, but in the
Olympics every four years, I do. Right, Lots of folks
out there don't watch a ton of soccer, but maybe
(27:43):
in the World Cup they do.
Speaker 5 (27:45):
Right. Maybe you don't watch a lot of golf, but
you watch the Masters every year? Right?
Speaker 2 (27:49):
I mean, how does the Super Bowl get one hundred
million gajillion people? Because P two S and P three's
and the casuals come to pay attention to the biggest
event the country has to offer. So when I go
on the Times website today, for example, and I see
this as front page news on the Times, it made
front page news on ESPN dot com, It's all over
(28:12):
the non sports sites, Fox, CNN, MSNBC, whatever. Everybody is
picking this thing up. So I get it, right. I
get how there's people out there that would say, God,
you never talk WNBA, and then when you do, it's
about something bad. Well, sometimes that's what the league is
all about. The NBA feeds on drama. There's no doubt
(28:33):
the NBA feeds on drama. Dick and I have talked
about that before, and I'll be honest with you right now.
For me, I have way more interest in the drama
that's going on in the WNBA that I do the
basketball itself. And I think there's people out there, like
Dick that would say any pub is good pub. He
mentioned that to Jerry a couple weeks ago. This is
bringing a lot of eyeballs, whether good or bad, to
(28:55):
the WNBA, and a lot of people are talking about this,
so I think it's one of those stories. The WNBA
would rather have not happened. But I do wonder in
the end if this thing is just going to get
so big and so dramatic that this will become a
daily talking point for people, whether or not their w
(29:15):
NBA fans or not. That's how big it's getting, because
it seems like every single night, every single week, there's
some kind of shenanigans for non basketball reasons coming out
of the WNBA.
Speaker 6 (29:28):
Well, I think we're gonna diet it on phone with
audio tomorrow. Okay, but there was a tweet, Oh, you
can say now, so we're gonna hear tomorrow. There was
a tweet from the WNBA, the actual league account that
played and had a social media person narrating a bet
that took place between Angel Reese and was it Page
(29:49):
Buker's yeh, Becker's He's correct correct? A bet that took
place over four hundred dollars for who is going to
win the WNBA All Star Game? The league twitter account
I sent this video and then quickly deleted it when
the league realized, yeah, wait a seconds, them betting over
the All Star Game violates league rules, so they quickly
deleted it. When the league itself posts stuff like that
(30:13):
that's like, come on, yeah, clearly your players can't do this,
Why are you promoting it?
Speaker 5 (30:19):
It just makes your league look, you know, minor league.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
Yeah, I mean it's it feels like and I'm again,
we're going to run out of time here, but it
feels like and this is just a perception I have.
This may not be based in anything regarding reality. The
perception that I've got about the WNBA right now is
that they're having a bit of a hard time handling
their success. Yeah, okay, for whatever reason, right, whether because
(30:45):
of race related reasons, sexual preference, gender related reasons, new
fans showing up, whatever, they're having a hard time handling
this success. And the hope is that they eventually figure
this out. Right, But I'll just say this that I
think there's a perception from some people that the WNBA
(31:06):
fan base, some players, some coaches, that they're more about
other things first, second, and third besides basketball, right, and
you can't reason with them. There's no room for discussion
or debate. And if you don't think the way they do,
then you feel like you're an outcast in their arenas
(31:26):
and in their field of play. And I think what
happened last night or is it two nights ago? Two
nights ago? Right at Climate Pledge Arena with the owner
going after these fans for right or wrong just feeds
into those perceptions. And it was a massive mistake by
them to do that, massive and I'm glad the WNBA
(31:48):
took the approach that they did. And I'm actually kind
of looking forward to hearing if Celeste Keaton in the
end actually has anything to say about what happened the
other night, because to me, it's a story. Whether you
like it or not, it's a story. It's all over
the news, front page news, mainstream news. This is not
just a sports topic. By the way, all right, we're
(32:08):
gonna break textimonials four nine four five one Petros normally
on Wednesday at four He's gonna hop on a five
tonight about that. What a treat, What a treat for
the five o'clock Thursday crowd. Coming up on ninety three
three KJRFM
Dave 'Softy' Mahler and Dick Fain News
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