May 4, 2026 • 19 mins
Bill Krueger, former Mariners pitcher and analyst, joins Softy and Dick Fain to talk about the M’s getting swept at home by the Royals this last weekend and the bad moments on the field, the need for some patience when it comes to the starting rotations with pitcher struggles right now, facing an on-fire Braves team this week, and Jose Ferrer’s pitches.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Duke of Duke Seafood letting you know that
this hour of Softy in Dick on your home for
the Huskies and Kraken is probably brought to you by
Duke Seafood. Why not make it a Duke's night tonight.
Reserve your table today at Dukeseafood dot com. On Sports
Radio ninety three point three. Kjarff, It's time for.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Our weekly conversation with Bill Krueger, brought to you by
the brand new Occidental Hall next to Lumenfield on Occidental,
Seattle's newest hot spot for sports fans with massive HD
screams in a menu packed with Seattle's best smash burger
wings and the best local craft beers in town. Now
with Bill Krueger, here's Saftie and Dick.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
All right, here we go, Softie Dick Jackson felts back
in the studio where at Jimmy is on first getting
ready for the Braves and Mariners today on the radio program.
And anytime you get swept by Kansas City, there's a
rule you got to get Bill Kruger.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
On the air to calm everybody down. Get here.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
He is joining us right now, courtesy of our pals
at the Accidental Beer Hall right down the street from
Jimmy's on First great Place before and after every Mariner
and Seahawk game. Don't forget about the Queen Ann Beer
Hall or the Moss Bay Hall as well.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
In Kirkland, Bill, how are you, man?
Speaker 5 (01:14):
I'm good. I'm good, you know, dying for this great
weather to come him.
Speaker 6 (01:18):
I'm a little larry because it's too good, too soon,
but certainly loving that right now.
Speaker 5 (01:24):
How's that? Let's start with.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Yeah, let's talk about what we saw for the weekend, man.
I mean, obviously the ups and downs. Emerson Hancock. Mariners
lost the game where he struck out fourteen batters, which
is hard to comprehend in some ways. But what you
make of what you saw in the three games sweep
by the Royals.
Speaker 6 (01:40):
Man, well, I think they were riding high coming out
of the Minnesota series. You know, had a great road trip,
and then you know, the portent of bad things to
come starts with Brash his injury and then he goes
on the il and that's a big blow to the
bullpen because he's their best reliever. It's not consistent that
he doesn't get all the o's, but you take him
(02:01):
out of the equation, and then of course, you know,
Cal comes up with a mysterious injury that's still waiting
to be sort of determined at this point, and he's
such an important part of this team. You subtract those
two players, you've already got Donovan on the shelf, and
he's not. I got the impression that he might be back.
I just I almost. I almost thought he was going
(02:22):
to be back like now, but clearly that that hasn't
quite happened. So a little shorthanded, right, and then more
bad news since with Spire. But in looking at this
Kansas City Series, at Kansasity's per good team. They have
a bad bullpen. We weren't able to take advantage of it.
They got some left handed pitching. We struggle with left
(02:44):
handed pitching. But really what it comes down to is
the fact that we didn't play real clean and I
think this is a team that plays at the margin.
That's a good defender, that's a good pitcher, and the
pitching catch game wasn't there. You know, the game they
lost with Hancock pitched and the mistakes were pretty pretty glaring.
Speaker 5 (03:04):
Right, we have the don't.
Speaker 6 (03:06):
Know the count a Rose Arena takes off, he gets
tagged out. Granted it was it was an obstruction play
that should have been called, but you know kind of
where baseball God's kind of got got what you deserved,
I think for not knowing the count right. And then
you know, you have the bock by Munos that puts
the runner in scoring position, and of course that's gonna
(03:27):
bad things happen when.
Speaker 5 (03:28):
You do that.
Speaker 6 (03:28):
And he hasn't been real clean as far as being
able to pitch without allowing some hits or some runners
on base this year. And then of course an extra
innings you have the you know, Massy taking off and
then Garber throwing the ball straight to second base. And
you know, I was taught, you know, we have a
lot of those types of plays that happened when you're
(03:50):
a pitcher and balls hit sharply back to you the
man on second. The man the man on second is
frozen between second and third because he react to the
ball beating hit hard. And my job is turn ball
in hand and run right at him and driving back
to second.
Speaker 5 (04:06):
So to me, that wasn't talked about.
Speaker 6 (04:07):
The Garber has to get out from behind the plate
and run the run up the runner, make and make
a commitment because as soon as he got the third
it's money.
Speaker 5 (04:14):
You know, he gets a fly ball and that does it. Right.
Speaker 6 (04:17):
We're just not a team that's playing at full strength.
I mean you could take the six to six game
and say, well maybe, uh that's a scoring game and
you know who wasn't great? But the Mariners put some
tallies up. But then your short of, your short of,
your short of reliever and it comes to bear right
because they have their little equation out there, and who's
to know where Aspire was the last couple of days
(04:37):
since he's now I eld. So I think there's a
lot of mitigating factors there. I think what you need
to keep reminding yourself, and I know that's where we
live right now with this team, is that they're still
like number three and runs allowed, And to me, that's
a big number. I look at runs aloud and to me,
that's the carrying number. You know, you're in the top
six and and runs allowed, you're gonna be in the playoffs.
(05:00):
That's just a fact. So I know they're not there yet.
I know they're not playing clean. I know they're short offensively,
and now they've got some injuries in the pitching side.
So these are things that will sort themselves out before
it's all over with.
Speaker 5 (05:16):
It doesn't feel good right now, though.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
Well, can I jump in for a quick second.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
They they led the league in era like three years
ago and missed the postseason.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
Yeah, I mean, it can't happen, that's true.
Speaker 5 (05:31):
Well, yeah, I'm sure you can.
Speaker 6 (05:32):
You can, you could point at that, but you know,
there was a lot of not trying on the offensive
side of that team.
Speaker 4 (05:37):
Right Yeah, Bill, you mentioned.
Speaker 5 (05:39):
You have to you have to be Let me let
me let me say that.
Speaker 6 (05:41):
You know, right now they're like twenty second in average
I think, and or maybe lower twenty six and twenty
fifth and average, and then homers are like twelve slugging
they're like twenty second, Which is interesting that the spread
the spread between those and they're they're not They're not
in I think low twenties and run score.
Speaker 5 (05:59):
They need to be in the middle. They got to
be great.
Speaker 6 (06:02):
They just have to be in the middle. You can't
be at the bottom. Okay, So I would say there's
your point.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
Bill.
Speaker 7 (06:09):
You mentioned the mental mistakes and we're seeing it team wide.
What do you attribute the lack of concentration to to
when it's more than just one or two players.
Speaker 6 (06:21):
Well, I think there's really just that one egregious mistake
by a rose Arena that really stands out on the
mental side.
Speaker 5 (06:29):
I mean, you know Crawford kicked the ball yesterday.
Speaker 6 (06:31):
You know Garver's play, You can't say that mental mistake.
Speaker 5 (06:36):
I don't know.
Speaker 6 (06:37):
They've had, They've had some, they've had some some unclean plays.
I'm just saying that when you're playing close to the best,
you have to that's the way they play. They play
to the margin, right, they play where they can get
And this this this goes back. It harkens back to
why is the tipping point the fifth or sixth inning?
Speaker 5 (06:55):
Why do we have to play the platoon game in
fifth sting?
Speaker 6 (06:58):
Used to be they played that game in this seventh
and eighth because that is the moment where it determines
whether or not we go to the good side of
our bullpen or we sort of throw up the white
flag and throw to the back end of the bullpen,
which are not very talented. Okay, that's why Dan is
forced to make a play right then and there, even
though it's so early that they come back around then
(07:19):
you wish you had really and you wish you had cancel.
And that's kind of that that's been and they've had
a couple of moments where it worked out, but that's
where it's really been challenging because you're playing close run
run games and you're trying to get to your bullpen,
and that's why everything hitches on that. That's where they
play to I think they're short out there, honestly, even
(07:40):
if they have all their guys right, which I think
is an interesting conversation to talk about what they haven't
that's getting rehabbed right now.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
Okay, well let's talk about that.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
I mean, what do you do if you're Jared Depoto
or Justin Hollander? Are you just relying on guys to
get healthy again? Are you playing ad on with this
roster even with those guys coming back eventually?
Speaker 6 (08:01):
Well, they added Suarez, you know, off the Braves roster.
His numbers weren't very good, but he's a veteran lefty.
He can pitch in the middle, he can pitch a
couple innings. I mean, I think baseball is like, what's
wrong with you, Baseball? I'm carrying at least a guy
that can pitch to the lineup so I don't have
to lean hard on the one any one at a time,
and then crying after two days in a row that
(08:22):
I don't have any pitching when you need to have
someone that can buffer a game, that's good, good enough
to pitch to the lineup.
Speaker 5 (08:28):
Not saying that Suarez is the answer.
Speaker 6 (08:30):
Clearly, everybody's got five or six left handers in their
lineup and you need more left getting stronger. They're looking
for seventy pitches this next time out, But I just
get the sneaking suspicion that they're gonna have a meeting
with him and decide that maybe he's ready now and
bring him up because without Brash, they need another guy
(08:50):
for sure, and I think Bryce Miller could really help
this team at least to start off in the middle
of the game and see where it goes from there.
I think they need another talented armed down there, and
Bryce would not be happy about that.
Speaker 5 (09:06):
But guess what.
Speaker 6 (09:07):
In the past year and a half he's been it's
been hard for him to post, and he's been up
and down, and right now Hancock is pitching brilliantly, so
he can't come out and Castillo's getting paid, and even
though he's not pitching well, you need to have Adoza
patience with him to sort it out a little bit.
Because the last three years he's three and a half
(09:29):
harn eighty innings bank on it. So I think you
need to have a little patience with him.
Speaker 7 (09:37):
Bill Soft and I earlier were discussing whether we should
have any optimism based upon what we saw from Louis
Castillo's start yesterday.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
What do you say about.
Speaker 6 (09:48):
I think he had He had started the game with
an ata fastball, and with that that really allowed him
to kind of pitch his game. And then he had
the one inning where he got behind and then it's
hard for him to chase above the line, and then
he gets a little nibbley and walks couple and and
(10:09):
you know, hits a guy and he's got himself in
a pickle and gives up a few. I think he
was better. But eighty percent fastball, I don't know. Is
that who's making that decision? That's too many, that's too many.
He's not good enough to throw eighty percent fastball. He
doesn't have the invisible kind of he does up shoot
the baseball. He is a fastball pitcher. But he is
(10:31):
going to have to throw sliders to ride. He's no problem.
He's got a nice slider to ride. He but the
left he it's a little nikolie. He tries to throw
it and make it go across the outside corner.
Speaker 5 (10:44):
It's not very good.
Speaker 6 (10:46):
He needs his change up. But he needs to go
back and look at the tape at Cincinnati. Him and
Pete need to sit down and look at that and say,
what is it? What is he was Mario Soto junior
at Cincinnati with a change up.
Speaker 5 (11:00):
Now where is it?
Speaker 6 (11:01):
It's eighty nine to ninety. It's just not as good
as good as it needs to be. He needs to
get that pitched out. In today's game, there is no
rover and right center, left hand hitting is back. Everybody's
loading the stack in the deck, and he's not great
against left hand hitters, so he needs that pitch.
Speaker 5 (11:19):
I think it's still there. Confident guy cools a cucumber.
He's used to.
Speaker 6 (11:24):
He's had, you know, periods of time in his long
career where he's he's his stuff a little bit. I
think he figures it out and so this was a
little It was a step in the right direction. He
has to feel better about it himself after this game.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Yeah, well, his next start is in Chicago over the weekend,
right against a not very good offensive team. They got
a good pitching staff. The White Sox are way better
than they were a couple of years ago. They shouldn't
because they were in the gutter, you know, a couple
of years ago. So anything that even looks remotely decent
is going to be a major reparade over what we saw.
But you know, the win could be a problem obviously
(11:59):
out there. Uh you know, comiss Ski or whatever the
hell they're calling it now in Chicago. But Bill, I
gotta ask you about this Braves team that we're gonna
see tonight. I mean this Braves team. Man, they're they're
number one and run score, They're number two in e
r A in baseball.
Speaker 8 (12:13):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
The gap between them and the second best offensive team
in baseball is the same as the gap between number
two and number ten. I mean, I mean, they are
the best offensive team by a large, large margin. And
now Logan Gilbert is gonna get a test tonight. Uh
we're gonna see tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
Uh, the the.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Kid that's number three in the league in e R
a and Bryce Elder Jr. Ritchie from would you say
Bainbridge tonight? By the way, So give me a take
on this challenge ahead of these guys in in the
in this series.
Speaker 6 (12:48):
Well, they're just they're whacks in the league right now.
They're they're they're they're dominant to have that much going
on both sides of the baseball and the nurse don't
even see the fire breathing drag and Chris Stale.
Speaker 5 (12:59):
Right so he kind of doves that bullet.
Speaker 6 (13:01):
But uh, you know, Suaz at the end, they got
a lot of good young pitching that that I don't
know a hell of a lot about. Uh, they got
to line up with some guys I don't know, Baldwin
leaving leaving them and hitting.
Speaker 5 (13:12):
We know who Olsen is.
Speaker 6 (13:14):
Kuna's hurt, that's one saving grace Albie's we know him,
his Hairris the second is hitting for them. And you know,
they got a bunch of guys. They got some guys
you know, and uh, and they can do both pitch
and hit. When you do that, you know, it's it's
a it's a rough, rough seat. I think this we
(13:35):
got pitching. It's tough to hit, you know, Gilbert's tough
to hit. Gilbert's problem is he needs to figure out
how to be more efficient. How do I not have
to have seven pitches that I throw.
Speaker 5 (13:49):
For him to me?
Speaker 6 (13:50):
Yeah, he doesn't have great fastball command. He wants to
throw the fastball for show. He wants to make you
swing at it, and he wants to pitch with everything else.
But he's got so many choices that it's water it
down and they all kind of meld together.
Speaker 5 (14:02):
I think when I look.
Speaker 6 (14:03):
At his inning the year when he threw two on innings,
he threw his slider a lot, it was fastball slider split.
Speaker 5 (14:10):
Now he's throwing the change up, and I like the
change up. But I settled in.
Speaker 6 (14:13):
On one breaking ball and get some command of that,
and get get more willing on even counts to throw
something away, try to hit the outside corner and get
some contact and move the game along.
Speaker 5 (14:25):
You got good stuff, You're you know everything. The metrics.
You know, Gilbert is off the chart metric wise, but
he pitch you. He barely gives you five innings a start.
He's way too good for that, you know.
Speaker 6 (14:36):
Wou look you take a look at any great picture,
and he had two in a row that were not good.
Everybody's got that in the the resume. Okay, so everybody
needs to calm down. What he needs to do is
not get caught up. Am I tipping? No, you're in
the middle of the plate right now, and you got
to use a change of speed sometimes early in the
(14:58):
count because guys are looking and hunting the fact basketball
first pitch, because you're trying to carve out a big
piece of the plate right out of the chute, because
you don't want to walk people. Well, they've kind of
sorted that one out a little bit, and you've got
to be able to get to your pitches where you
want to throw him.
Speaker 5 (15:12):
He just has to find toune it a little bit.
He's going to be fine.
Speaker 6 (15:15):
So the Mariners haven't have the edge because they can
ready pitch and they're in their park, and so you know,
you could you can have the brave struggle a little
bit to score.
Speaker 5 (15:24):
Let's let's see what happens with our great pitching.
Speaker 6 (15:26):
Now we don't have the bullpen so as much as
that that they've had.
Speaker 5 (15:31):
So that's a that's a bit of a problem.
Speaker 7 (15:34):
Spier being out puts even more of a load on Forarrara,
and I'm trying to figure out how I should feel
Bill when Farrera comes in protecting a one run lead.
I mean, he's got a good era, but his batting
average against his ops is high. How should I feel
when Farrera comes in trying to protect a three to
two lead in the seven?
Speaker 6 (15:55):
Well, he's advanced from playing you know, Uh, he's playing
on the island to midfit toys that that team was
not very good and he came from so they're not
really playing for anything. They're not pitching under pressure. You know,
you're just pitching the fill innings. Right, Just try to
hopefully not embarrass yourself every night.
Speaker 5 (16:12):
Not him in particular. I'm talking about you know, the Nationals.
But you know he's got a big arm.
Speaker 6 (16:18):
They're trying to get him to throw his slider a
little bit more so he's can be better against left
He's got great change up. Shoot, throw your change up
to lefties. You know, I mean there's no rules. You
got ninety seven, so you know that's that's gonna be.
That's gonna be able to give you the spread to
throw your change up. I just think he needs to
get more comfortable in those situations and he's.
Speaker 5 (16:39):
Had a reasonable amount of success.
Speaker 6 (16:41):
But now you're asking to step up in the number
one chair and he's going to have to be able
to perform. He's going to have to be able to
come in and face you know, Olsen and figure it out, right,
So we'll just I understand that. I mean, look at
his resume when he got here. It's potential. It's not
results are it's potential. They went out and found with
(17:03):
the catcher they didn't need, and they found a power
lefty that they didn't have to go and pay for.
And he's a little bit of a work in progress,
but the Mirrors have been pretty good at taking relievers
that are working progress and making them better, So you know,
keep the confidence up with him.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
Yeah, are you concerned at all about what's going on
with Cow?
Speaker 6 (17:23):
Of course, I mean there's just so much drama and
not knowing what the heck right.
Speaker 5 (17:30):
I don't know. Maybe I'm just not as in tune
to what's going on.
Speaker 6 (17:33):
But it was such a mystery when he went down,
and then it was a mystery for a couple of days,
and then it's still not quite yet determined what the
injury is.
Speaker 5 (17:41):
So I know, one thing. That guy eats nails for breakfast.
Speaker 6 (17:45):
And if he's not, if he's if something's bothering him,
it's really bothering him because you got a straight jacket,
that dude.
Speaker 5 (17:51):
And it takes three guys to do it.
Speaker 6 (17:53):
Well, it always took two to do Secret, it takes
three to do Rawley. He wants to play man, so
you have to protect him against himself. So whatever that takes,
if it means they have to iew him, you have
to suck it up and give him some rest.
Speaker 7 (18:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (18:07):
I'm worried about him, but I'm not worried like he's
done for the year.
Speaker 6 (18:11):
I'm just worried, like you know, they're in a they're
they're they're playing without their best player, and so it's kind.
Speaker 5 (18:15):
Of tough, right.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Yeah, it's a great description of cal Rowley that he
eats nails for breakfast.
Speaker 4 (18:21):
I prefer the Mickey.
Speaker 8 (18:22):
Line from Rocky he eats lightning and Crapstunda. That's what
this guy is all about. He's a top associate like
that one. Yeah, it's because I'm old, all right, Bill,
you're the man.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Great stuff, Buddy, Enjoy this series with the Braves and
we'll talk on Monday.
Speaker 5 (18:36):
Right, all right, guys, thanks all right.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
Bill Krueger with us on the radio show. I think
Emerson Hancock is going to join us next segment. Mike
Benton's waiting for him to come off the field right
now over at T Mobile Park, A guy that won
one hundred and three pitches, which is a career high,
struck out fourteen career high. I want to know if
he lobbied the skipper at all to let him stay.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
In the game and keep the thing going.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
I think they had the top of the order coming up,
so look in the end, obviously it didn't work out
because they lost. But Emerson Hancock, who was freaking phenomenal
on Saturday night, he is set to join us next
live from T Mobile coming up as we continue from
Jimmy's on ninety three three KJRFM,
This is Duke of Duke Seafood letting you know that
this hour of Softy in Dick on your home for
the Huskies and Kraken is probably brought to you by
Duke Seafood. Why not make it a Duke's night tonight.
Reserve your table today at Dukeseafood dot com. On Sports
Radio ninety three point three. Kjarff, It's time for.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Our weekly conversation with Bill Krueger, brought to you by
the brand new Occidental Hall next to Lumenfield on Occidental,
Seattle's newest hot spot for sports fans with massive HD
screams in a menu packed with Seattle's best smash burger
wings and the best local craft beers in town. Now
with Bill Krueger, here's Saftie and Dick.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
All right, here we go, Softie Dick Jackson felts back
in the studio where at Jimmy is on first getting
ready for the Braves and Mariners today on the radio program.
And anytime you get swept by Kansas City, there's a
rule you got to get Bill Kruger.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
On the air to calm everybody down. Get here.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
He is joining us right now, courtesy of our pals
at the Accidental Beer Hall right down the street from
Jimmy's on First great Place before and after every Mariner
and Seahawk game. Don't forget about the Queen Ann Beer
Hall or the Moss Bay Hall as well.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
In Kirkland, Bill, how are you, man?
Speaker 5 (01:14):
I'm good. I'm good, you know, dying for this great
weather to come him.
Speaker 6 (01:18):
I'm a little larry because it's too good, too soon,
but certainly loving that right now.
Speaker 5 (01:24):
How's that? Let's start with.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Yeah, let's talk about what we saw for the weekend, man.
I mean, obviously the ups and downs. Emerson Hancock. Mariners
lost the game where he struck out fourteen batters, which
is hard to comprehend in some ways. But what you
make of what you saw in the three games sweep
by the Royals.
Speaker 6 (01:40):
Man, well, I think they were riding high coming out
of the Minnesota series. You know, had a great road trip,
and then you know, the portent of bad things to
come starts with Brash his injury and then he goes
on the il and that's a big blow to the
bullpen because he's their best reliever. It's not consistent that
he doesn't get all the o's, but you take him
(02:01):
out of the equation, and then of course, you know,
Cal comes up with a mysterious injury that's still waiting
to be sort of determined at this point, and he's
such an important part of this team. You subtract those
two players, you've already got Donovan on the shelf, and
he's not. I got the impression that he might be back.
I just I almost. I almost thought he was going
(02:22):
to be back like now, but clearly that that hasn't
quite happened. So a little shorthanded, right, and then more
bad news since with Spire. But in looking at this
Kansas City Series, at Kansasity's per good team. They have
a bad bullpen. We weren't able to take advantage of it.
They got some left handed pitching. We struggle with left
(02:44):
handed pitching. But really what it comes down to is
the fact that we didn't play real clean and I
think this is a team that plays at the margin.
That's a good defender, that's a good pitcher, and the
pitching catch game wasn't there. You know, the game they
lost with Hancock pitched and the mistakes were pretty pretty glaring.
Speaker 5 (03:04):
Right, we have the don't.
Speaker 6 (03:06):
Know the count a Rose Arena takes off, he gets
tagged out. Granted it was it was an obstruction play
that should have been called, but you know kind of
where baseball God's kind of got got what you deserved,
I think for not knowing the count right. And then
you know, you have the bock by Munos that puts
the runner in scoring position, and of course that's gonna
(03:27):
bad things happen when.
Speaker 5 (03:28):
You do that.
Speaker 6 (03:28):
And he hasn't been real clean as far as being
able to pitch without allowing some hits or some runners
on base this year. And then of course an extra
innings you have the you know, Massy taking off and
then Garber throwing the ball straight to second base. And
you know, I was taught, you know, we have a
lot of those types of plays that happened when you're
(03:50):
a pitcher and balls hit sharply back to you the
man on second. The man the man on second is
frozen between second and third because he react to the
ball beating hit hard. And my job is turn ball
in hand and run right at him and driving back
to second.
Speaker 5 (04:06):
So to me, that wasn't talked about.
Speaker 6 (04:07):
The Garber has to get out from behind the plate
and run the run up the runner, make and make
a commitment because as soon as he got the third
it's money.
Speaker 5 (04:14):
You know, he gets a fly ball and that does it. Right.
Speaker 6 (04:17):
We're just not a team that's playing at full strength.
I mean you could take the six to six game
and say, well maybe, uh that's a scoring game and
you know who wasn't great? But the Mariners put some
tallies up. But then your short of, your short of,
your short of reliever and it comes to bear right
because they have their little equation out there, and who's
to know where Aspire was the last couple of days
(04:37):
since he's now I eld. So I think there's a
lot of mitigating factors there. I think what you need
to keep reminding yourself, and I know that's where we
live right now with this team, is that they're still
like number three and runs allowed, And to me, that's
a big number. I look at runs aloud and to me,
that's the carrying number. You know, you're in the top
six and and runs allowed, you're gonna be in the playoffs.
(05:00):
That's just a fact. So I know they're not there yet.
I know they're not playing clean. I know they're short offensively,
and now they've got some injuries in the pitching side.
So these are things that will sort themselves out before
it's all over with.
Speaker 5 (05:16):
It doesn't feel good right now, though.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
Well, can I jump in for a quick second.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
They they led the league in era like three years
ago and missed the postseason.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
Yeah, I mean, it can't happen, that's true.
Speaker 5 (05:31):
Well, yeah, I'm sure you can.
Speaker 6 (05:32):
You can, you could point at that, but you know,
there was a lot of not trying on the offensive
side of that team.
Speaker 4 (05:37):
Right Yeah, Bill, you mentioned.
Speaker 5 (05:39):
You have to you have to be Let me let
me let me say that.
Speaker 6 (05:41):
You know, right now they're like twenty second in average
I think, and or maybe lower twenty six and twenty
fifth and average, and then homers are like twelve slugging
they're like twenty second, Which is interesting that the spread
the spread between those and they're they're not They're not
in I think low twenties and run score.
Speaker 5 (05:59):
They need to be in the middle. They got to
be great.
Speaker 6 (06:02):
They just have to be in the middle. You can't
be at the bottom. Okay, So I would say there's
your point.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
Bill.
Speaker 7 (06:09):
You mentioned the mental mistakes and we're seeing it team wide.
What do you attribute the lack of concentration to to
when it's more than just one or two players.
Speaker 6 (06:21):
Well, I think there's really just that one egregious mistake
by a rose Arena that really stands out on the
mental side.
Speaker 5 (06:29):
I mean, you know Crawford kicked the ball yesterday.
Speaker 6 (06:31):
You know Garver's play, You can't say that mental mistake.
Speaker 5 (06:36):
I don't know.
Speaker 6 (06:37):
They've had, They've had some, they've had some some unclean plays.
I'm just saying that when you're playing close to the best,
you have to that's the way they play. They play
to the margin, right, they play where they can get
And this this this goes back. It harkens back to
why is the tipping point the fifth or sixth inning?
Speaker 5 (06:55):
Why do we have to play the platoon game in
fifth sting?
Speaker 6 (06:58):
Used to be they played that game in this seventh
and eighth because that is the moment where it determines
whether or not we go to the good side of
our bullpen or we sort of throw up the white
flag and throw to the back end of the bullpen,
which are not very talented. Okay, that's why Dan is
forced to make a play right then and there, even
though it's so early that they come back around then
(07:19):
you wish you had really and you wish you had cancel.
And that's kind of that that's been and they've had
a couple of moments where it worked out, but that's
where it's really been challenging because you're playing close run
run games and you're trying to get to your bullpen,
and that's why everything hitches on that. That's where they
play to I think they're short out there, honestly, even
(07:40):
if they have all their guys right, which I think
is an interesting conversation to talk about what they haven't
that's getting rehabbed right now.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
Okay, well let's talk about that.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
I mean, what do you do if you're Jared Depoto
or Justin Hollander? Are you just relying on guys to
get healthy again? Are you playing ad on with this
roster even with those guys coming back eventually?
Speaker 6 (08:01):
Well, they added Suarez, you know, off the Braves roster.
His numbers weren't very good, but he's a veteran lefty.
He can pitch in the middle, he can pitch a
couple innings. I mean, I think baseball is like, what's
wrong with you, Baseball? I'm carrying at least a guy
that can pitch to the lineup so I don't have
to lean hard on the one any one at a time,
and then crying after two days in a row that
(08:22):
I don't have any pitching when you need to have
someone that can buffer a game, that's good, good enough
to pitch to the lineup.
Speaker 5 (08:28):
Not saying that Suarez is the answer.
Speaker 6 (08:30):
Clearly, everybody's got five or six left handers in their
lineup and you need more left getting stronger. They're looking
for seventy pitches this next time out, But I just
get the sneaking suspicion that they're gonna have a meeting
with him and decide that maybe he's ready now and
bring him up because without Brash, they need another guy
(08:50):
for sure, and I think Bryce Miller could really help
this team at least to start off in the middle
of the game and see where it goes from there.
I think they need another talented armed down there, and
Bryce would not be happy about that.
Speaker 5 (09:06):
But guess what.
Speaker 6 (09:07):
In the past year and a half he's been it's
been hard for him to post, and he's been up
and down, and right now Hancock is pitching brilliantly, so
he can't come out and Castillo's getting paid, and even
though he's not pitching well, you need to have Adoza
patience with him to sort it out a little bit.
Because the last three years he's three and a half
(09:29):
harn eighty innings bank on it. So I think you
need to have a little patience with him.
Speaker 7 (09:37):
Bill Soft and I earlier were discussing whether we should
have any optimism based upon what we saw from Louis
Castillo's start yesterday.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
What do you say about.
Speaker 6 (09:48):
I think he had He had started the game with
an ata fastball, and with that that really allowed him
to kind of pitch his game. And then he had
the one inning where he got behind and then it's
hard for him to chase above the line, and then
he gets a little nibbley and walks couple and and
(10:09):
you know, hits a guy and he's got himself in
a pickle and gives up a few. I think he
was better. But eighty percent fastball, I don't know. Is
that who's making that decision? That's too many, that's too many.
He's not good enough to throw eighty percent fastball. He
doesn't have the invisible kind of he does up shoot
the baseball. He is a fastball pitcher. But he is
(10:31):
going to have to throw sliders to ride. He's no problem.
He's got a nice slider to ride. He but the
left he it's a little nikolie. He tries to throw
it and make it go across the outside corner.
Speaker 5 (10:44):
It's not very good.
Speaker 6 (10:46):
He needs his change up. But he needs to go
back and look at the tape at Cincinnati. Him and
Pete need to sit down and look at that and say,
what is it? What is he was Mario Soto junior
at Cincinnati with a change up.
Speaker 5 (11:00):
Now where is it?
Speaker 6 (11:01):
It's eighty nine to ninety. It's just not as good
as good as it needs to be. He needs to
get that pitched out. In today's game, there is no
rover and right center, left hand hitting is back. Everybody's
loading the stack in the deck, and he's not great
against left hand hitters, so he needs that pitch.
Speaker 5 (11:19):
I think it's still there. Confident guy cools a cucumber.
He's used to.
Speaker 6 (11:24):
He's had, you know, periods of time in his long
career where he's he's his stuff a little bit. I
think he figures it out and so this was a
little It was a step in the right direction. He
has to feel better about it himself after this game.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Yeah, well, his next start is in Chicago over the weekend,
right against a not very good offensive team. They got
a good pitching staff. The White Sox are way better
than they were a couple of years ago. They shouldn't
because they were in the gutter, you know, a couple
of years ago. So anything that even looks remotely decent
is going to be a major reparade over what we saw.
But you know, the win could be a problem obviously
(11:59):
out there. Uh you know, comiss Ski or whatever the
hell they're calling it now in Chicago. But Bill, I
gotta ask you about this Braves team that we're gonna
see tonight. I mean this Braves team. Man, they're they're
number one and run score, They're number two in e
r A in baseball.
Speaker 8 (12:13):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
The gap between them and the second best offensive team
in baseball is the same as the gap between number
two and number ten. I mean, I mean, they are
the best offensive team by a large, large margin. And
now Logan Gilbert is gonna get a test tonight. Uh
we're gonna see tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
Uh, the the.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Kid that's number three in the league in e R
a and Bryce Elder Jr. Ritchie from would you say
Bainbridge tonight? By the way, So give me a take
on this challenge ahead of these guys in in the
in this series.
Speaker 6 (12:48):
Well, they're just they're whacks in the league right now.
They're they're they're they're dominant to have that much going
on both sides of the baseball and the nurse don't
even see the fire breathing drag and Chris Stale.
Speaker 5 (12:59):
Right so he kind of doves that bullet.
Speaker 6 (13:01):
But uh, you know, Suaz at the end, they got
a lot of good young pitching that that I don't
know a hell of a lot about. Uh, they got
to line up with some guys I don't know, Baldwin
leaving leaving them and hitting.
Speaker 5 (13:12):
We know who Olsen is.
Speaker 6 (13:14):
Kuna's hurt, that's one saving grace Albie's we know him,
his Hairris the second is hitting for them. And you know,
they got a bunch of guys. They got some guys
you know, and uh, and they can do both pitch
and hit. When you do that, you know, it's it's
a it's a rough, rough seat. I think this we
(13:35):
got pitching. It's tough to hit, you know, Gilbert's tough
to hit. Gilbert's problem is he needs to figure out
how to be more efficient. How do I not have
to have seven pitches that I throw.
Speaker 5 (13:49):
For him to me?
Speaker 6 (13:50):
Yeah, he doesn't have great fastball command. He wants to
throw the fastball for show. He wants to make you
swing at it, and he wants to pitch with everything else.
But he's got so many choices that it's water it
down and they all kind of meld together.
Speaker 5 (14:02):
I think when I look.
Speaker 6 (14:03):
At his inning the year when he threw two on innings,
he threw his slider a lot, it was fastball slider split.
Speaker 5 (14:10):
Now he's throwing the change up, and I like the
change up. But I settled in.
Speaker 6 (14:13):
On one breaking ball and get some command of that,
and get get more willing on even counts to throw
something away, try to hit the outside corner and get
some contact and move the game along.
Speaker 5 (14:25):
You got good stuff, You're you know everything. The metrics.
You know, Gilbert is off the chart metric wise, but
he pitch you. He barely gives you five innings a start.
He's way too good for that, you know.
Speaker 6 (14:36):
Wou look you take a look at any great picture,
and he had two in a row that were not good.
Everybody's got that in the the resume. Okay, so everybody
needs to calm down. What he needs to do is
not get caught up. Am I tipping? No, you're in
the middle of the plate right now, and you got
to use a change of speed sometimes early in the
(14:58):
count because guys are looking and hunting the fact basketball
first pitch, because you're trying to carve out a big
piece of the plate right out of the chute, because
you don't want to walk people. Well, they've kind of
sorted that one out a little bit, and you've got
to be able to get to your pitches where you
want to throw him.
Speaker 5 (15:12):
He just has to find toune it a little bit.
He's going to be fine.
Speaker 6 (15:15):
So the Mariners haven't have the edge because they can
ready pitch and they're in their park, and so you know,
you could you can have the brave struggle a little
bit to score.
Speaker 5 (15:24):
Let's let's see what happens with our great pitching.
Speaker 6 (15:26):
Now we don't have the bullpen so as much as
that that they've had.
Speaker 5 (15:31):
So that's a that's a bit of a problem.
Speaker 7 (15:34):
Spier being out puts even more of a load on Forarrara,
and I'm trying to figure out how I should feel
Bill when Farrera comes in protecting a one run lead.
I mean, he's got a good era, but his batting
average against his ops is high. How should I feel
when Farrera comes in trying to protect a three to
two lead in the seven?
Speaker 6 (15:55):
Well, he's advanced from playing you know, Uh, he's playing
on the island to midfit toys that that team was
not very good and he came from so they're not
really playing for anything. They're not pitching under pressure. You know,
you're just pitching the fill innings. Right, Just try to
hopefully not embarrass yourself every night.
Speaker 5 (16:12):
Not him in particular. I'm talking about you know, the Nationals.
But you know he's got a big arm.
Speaker 6 (16:18):
They're trying to get him to throw his slider a
little bit more so he's can be better against left
He's got great change up. Shoot, throw your change up
to lefties. You know, I mean there's no rules. You
got ninety seven, so you know that's that's gonna be.
That's gonna be able to give you the spread to
throw your change up. I just think he needs to
get more comfortable in those situations and he's.
Speaker 5 (16:39):
Had a reasonable amount of success.
Speaker 6 (16:41):
But now you're asking to step up in the number
one chair and he's going to have to be able
to perform. He's going to have to be able to
come in and face you know, Olsen and figure it out, right,
So we'll just I understand that. I mean, look at
his resume when he got here. It's potential. It's not
results are it's potential. They went out and found with
(17:03):
the catcher they didn't need, and they found a power
lefty that they didn't have to go and pay for.
And he's a little bit of a work in progress,
but the Mirrors have been pretty good at taking relievers
that are working progress and making them better, So you know,
keep the confidence up with him.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
Yeah, are you concerned at all about what's going on
with Cow?
Speaker 6 (17:23):
Of course, I mean there's just so much drama and
not knowing what the heck right.
Speaker 5 (17:30):
I don't know. Maybe I'm just not as in tune
to what's going on.
Speaker 6 (17:33):
But it was such a mystery when he went down,
and then it was a mystery for a couple of days,
and then it's still not quite yet determined what the
injury is.
Speaker 5 (17:41):
So I know, one thing. That guy eats nails for breakfast.
Speaker 6 (17:45):
And if he's not, if he's if something's bothering him,
it's really bothering him because you got a straight jacket,
that dude.
Speaker 5 (17:51):
And it takes three guys to do it.
Speaker 6 (17:53):
Well, it always took two to do Secret, it takes
three to do Rawley. He wants to play man, so
you have to protect him against himself. So whatever that takes,
if it means they have to iew him, you have
to suck it up and give him some rest.
Speaker 7 (18:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (18:07):
I'm worried about him, but I'm not worried like he's
done for the year.
Speaker 6 (18:11):
I'm just worried, like you know, they're in a they're
they're they're playing without their best player, and so it's kind.
Speaker 5 (18:15):
Of tough, right.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Yeah, it's a great description of cal Rowley that he
eats nails for breakfast.
Speaker 4 (18:21):
I prefer the Mickey.
Speaker 8 (18:22):
Line from Rocky he eats lightning and Crapstunda. That's what
this guy is all about. He's a top associate like
that one. Yeah, it's because I'm old, all right, Bill,
you're the man.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Great stuff, Buddy, Enjoy this series with the Braves and
we'll talk on Monday.
Speaker 5 (18:36):
Right, all right, guys, thanks all right.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
Bill Krueger with us on the radio show. I think
Emerson Hancock is going to join us next segment. Mike
Benton's waiting for him to come off the field right
now over at T Mobile Park, A guy that won
one hundred and three pitches, which is a career high,
struck out fourteen career high. I want to know if
he lobbied the skipper at all to let him stay.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
In the game and keep the thing going.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
I think they had the top of the order coming up,
so look in the end, obviously it didn't work out
because they lost. But Emerson Hancock, who was freaking phenomenal
on Saturday night, he is set to join us next
live from T Mobile coming up as we continue from
Jimmy's on ninety three three KJRFM,
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