April 7, 2025 • 18 mins
Bill Krueger joins Dave Softy Mahler and Hugh Millen to talk about the Mariners moves over the offseason, or lack thereof, and what they could have done, the 3-7 starts to the 2025 season and what hasn’t worked, the pitching staff, and the injury to Victor Robles.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
When you hear this Week in Baseball, For many, many,
many years on this radio show meant one thing and
one thing only, and that was Bill Krueger joining us
after a Mariner victory, which clearly we are not doing
that anymore on this show.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Because the Mariners lost yesterday.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
But maybe Bill Kruger joining us we'll jumpstart the team
to bigger and better things.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Billy, it's Softie and Hugh Mill And how are you, man.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
I'm good. I'm looking for that rainbow, you know.
Speaker 4 (00:27):
We had that heavy shower, you know, kind of looking
for that big arc to fall across the beautiful Seattle
and change the fortunes of the team.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Right yeah, well we're all waiting for that.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Man.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
First of all, it's great to hear your voice. It's
been too long.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
And I'll just say this right now, miss you like
mad on the broadcast. That broadcast is not the same
whether pregame, postgame, or during the game without you and
your input. So they are lesser for it for not
having you there as a part of that. But we
appreciate you doing this with us. And we haven't caught
and caught up in a while. I mean, it feels
like there's a ton of stuff to talk about, cal
(01:03):
Rawley's contract, the movement or lack thereof, and free agency
over the offseason. What do you just make a Mariner
baseball circuit twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Men just feels a little bit like holding serve right.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
I'm not really changing anything, not really trying to to
really improve things, trying to bet upon the strength that
you have. Right, great starting pitching and a very very
good young closer. That's what you're betting on. And you know,
when you take the template of this team, if you
were to go back at the end of the the
season and you took you could take a snapshot of
(01:39):
all the teams before for agency and said, you know,
if you're put all the gentle manager in a room
and you maybe tape the top of the teams off
and say, you know, if you look at the core,
which team would you like. I've got a lot of
teams to take the core of the Mariners. Superstar to
be centerfielder, young, controlled, good short stuf up, all world catcher,
(02:02):
five premium starters, and a young closer that's very good.
That's kind of like Yatzi really, I mean, you're filling
the rest of the cracks. You got room to fill
it in because you're you're not you're not overburdened by money.
Wouldn't anybody want to take that?
Speaker 3 (02:15):
And you have a.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
Town with a with a with a big following or
wonderful ballpark and very affluent business culture.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Uh yeah, wouldn't you take that? You would?
Speaker 5 (02:27):
And they have the third youngest pitching staff. Uh so
put that all together. And and if you're GM Billy
Krueger for the Mariners, what is the one move that
was ever discussed or maybe it wasn't discussed. What what
is the one thing that just kind of sticks in
your craw the most about the inactivity of the Mariners?
(02:48):
What move would have you made or really tried to
make had you been in charge of the team.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
Well, I mean, they just need some reliable RBI pe
bats and probably some guy that's got kind of the
juice to give you a lot of all fields hitting
that can hit for.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
A high average. And it's not easy. I get it.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
Teams players aren't necessarily you know, hitters are not necessarily
enamored about coming to Seattle because the ballpark has a
reputation for being a tough place to hit and it's
long ways from the center of their lives more than likely, right,
So there's a lot of things to work against you.
So you're kind of forced to ending up a little
bit if you're going to get somebody of that quality.
(03:30):
I want so to Probably not in their game. Probably
wasn't someone they could go and chase. And then you
had Christian Walker, who's a solid right hand hitting which
isn't perfect first base from with a gold glove. That
would have been a slightly cheaper player in the in
the vein of where they needed help, which is first base.
You have Pete Alonzo that fell to the bottom of
(03:53):
the market, but then again, you know he's not quite
the player that Walker is, but he has a lot
of power and marriage lack power. And of course you
know Bragman, who's uh you know, eats nails for breakfast,
just charismatic to beat the band, a hard nosed player
that can really hit and really play. Those are all
great players. And maybe the Mariners, whether they were in
(04:16):
we don't think they were on any of those players,
really in on those players.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
It's good.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
It would have taken some creativity. I think I think
they they need to be a little bit more creative
and will almost kid Mahall passed to say, maybe they
couldn't really make sense of those players. Let's just say
because A it's a premium B the player doesn't want
to come here, so you have to maybe think about
it via trade and the guy you should be thinking
about trading. And this may seem a little bit conratuitive
(04:41):
with what I said. You trade, You trade Luis Castillo
because Luis Castillo is at a place where he's plateaued
and it's only gonna not precipitously, but it's going to
start to come down.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Flat arm angle.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
Losing v Low is gonna have to be He was
pretty good his last start. Man he got us, He
pitched in the zone. It was impressive with some movement.
But I see seventy two million on the docket, and
I say, if there's a market for that guy, And
there was a lot of time in that market this
past year where I think Luis Custial was marketable and
maybe you get the right player and return and maybe
(05:14):
you don't, and maybe there's some horse trading, but there's
money that comes back your way, now, doesn't it right?
Maybe you can use that money for something else. Well,
what do you do about that starter spot? My thought is,
and I could be wrong, there's always risk in everything,
but take a look at the kid that pitched at
East Side Catholic. That, wow, it is during the playoffs
a left handed starter that happens to come from this area,
(05:36):
live in some amish, Matt Boyd.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
He's starting for the Cubs.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
They gave him a two year I think it's two
years twenty nine. The Mariners lacked left handed pitching. It
killed them last year in the playoffs. They didn't the
playoff run. They didn't lose because they couldn't hit. The
last six weeks. They lost because Dan Wilson was forced
to try to push starting pitchers an out or two
more because they had no left handed release and they
(06:00):
had no overpowering one, two, three at the end of
the game without Brash.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
They need left handed pitching.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
So I make the move for Boyd, and then I've
either got resources to get a player from the deal
that I made for Castile.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Maybe I trade him and get a left hand to
some Red Sox. Right, make some deal. There's a way
to do it.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
There's always a way to do it, and still not
you know, have to you know, make a capital call
on the owners that seem to be very difficult to
place to go.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Well, Bill Krueger is with us, and he is, by
the way, turning over a new leaf like the young
kids do. And he's going to be very active on X.
Follow him at Bill Krueger forty four, and he's so
hip by the way, Hugh, He's got two accounts at
Bill Krueger forty four at Old School Underscore MLB. So
(06:51):
we'll chat more in a second about what's going to
be on the on those accounts, Bill. But I do
got to ask you about this year's team moving forward,
because look, I mean, you know, logic says it's three
and seven, it's ten games, all right. We haven't even
really gotten going yet. And I guarantee it there's gonna
be another three and seven run. Every team in baseball,
(07:11):
maybe even the Dodgers will at some point have a
three and seven run over ten games. How concerned are
you about what you've seen the first ten games? If
your confidence meeter was at a certain spot two weeks ago,
have the last ten games changed any of that one
way or the other for you?
Speaker 4 (07:32):
Well, I think if anything, and this may seem a
little bit surprising. There was a little bit more surprise
than there was, you know, despair. I mean, Jorge Polanco
comes out and it's four fifty to two homers. I'm
not so sure I thought there was anything left there
right now. There's a real problem there because you can't
get on the field. And that's a whole nother discussion
(07:52):
about why wasn't he a little bit further along? But
that's that's health and it's hard to call. But nonetheless,
he's fined to try to get healthy enough to play.
I saw nothing but question marks there, yep. And so
that's one. And Roblaze is proving to be the player
that we thought he was last year. Dynamic, offensively, hitting
(08:16):
two eighty, showing us that he can hit in the
lead us spot, be an impact player. So those were
those are real positive things.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Have they hit yet? No?
Speaker 4 (08:25):
Have they have their their their band aided kind of
solutions worked yet?
Speaker 3 (08:31):
No.
Speaker 4 (08:32):
But when you take out the number one starter, let's say, arguably,
the number one reliever, let's say arguably, you know, I
think this is a five hundred club, but those guys
just showing up. If Kirby and and Brash are playing
you're five hundred and this team's hitting one thirty two
with runs in scoring position. That will not continue. So
there's an optimism that this team will be better. You're
(08:53):
always better. You're always a safer bet. If you can
really pitch and can't hit, than then the opposite. The
opposite is definitely your death. We saw that play out
here in the late nineties in the Kingdom with all
those offensive players and not enough pitching to finish the game,
and they couldn't win when they had all those stars, right,
(09:14):
So pitching is always going to make you good and
give you a chance. And they've had a couple of
close games. I mean there's question marks for me. I mean,
obviously it hurts them not to have brass and they
don't have a lot of answers out there.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
They could have.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
Helped themselves a little bit more in the bullpen. I
don't think those were expensive reaches. They're kind of betting
on hope there with the bargains and Santo's and some
of these guys are just their reclamation problem rich projects.
For me, I think you should have a little more
certainty out there since you're playing with pitching right and
you're missing it. You're missing a guy that you knew
(09:48):
wouldn't start the season for you. But they're really What
bothers me is how they handle the five spot. I mean,
Emerson Hancock goes out and has a rocky one not
even one inning. Granted he wasn't good, but he wasn't scattery.
He just got hit a little bit, and they immediately
sent him a triple A and like never to be
seen again. And then they run a kid, Luis f
(10:09):
Castillo into the first game against the Giants. I don't
see anything there that's a relief pitcher, scattery control, doesn't
throw hard, a little bit of an angle with a slider. Sorry,
not good enough. I bring Hancock back to pitch. Look
at his numbers last year. I mean, he had some
great performances, had a pretty good spring. They've screwed him
(10:31):
up and given him a stupid sweeper breaking ball, which
is like Nintendo, it's not real baseball.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
Got to get rid of that.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
But this thing that goes across the everybody's like the
fashion place, like, oh it's fashion, it's trendy. No, it's
not good. You want the breaking ball to be hard
and sharp and go down. We're not trying to impress
you visually. We're trying to get the hitter out, so
I don't give up on him that quick. And then
why did they get those guys extra rest. I'm sure
they've got some interesting formula as to how this is
(11:01):
going to play out, you know, for.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
The next two series and beyond.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
Why would you want to rest guys when they're just
getting their pitch count up. Miller showed it he was
a little not in his best form his last start
against the Giants. We've waited seven days to pitch again.
WU had to wait? What's the point in waiting? But
that kids picked the third game. I just don't get it.
So there's some questions there on that for me. So
(11:26):
I think it's not as bad as it looks. Certainly
with role plays hurt that's not good and Polanco looking
like he's maybe a DH that's not good either. So
they've got some real problems to address with some of
these with some of these injuries, that's for sure. And
waiting on Kirby hoping that he's just going to be
a okay and and Brah should be here pretty soon.
I'm pretty confident about that.
Speaker 5 (11:46):
Well, we'll get to the Roblace injury here in a second,
but Billy Krueger with us and and Bill I want
to stick with the pitching staff here in that because
the handwringing the offseason, of course, was the failure to
fort to five the lineup. But there was enough chatter
too that, okay, the young pitchers, they were so good.
(12:06):
Is it reasonable to expect them to be that good?
I mean, I'll give you two stats an old school era,
as you know, Mariner's staff was number one in baseball.
Last year a new stat ops sixty nine was the
lowest number one in baseball. That's pretty good. How concerned
are you as really good obviously? How concerned are you that, hey,
(12:28):
just by the natural order of things, you just can't
expect them to be at that level? Or do you
see it differently?
Speaker 4 (12:37):
I see these guys that are all on the beginning
of their journey.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
They're going to get better.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
These are not older pitchers, These are not pictures that
are going to be prone to getting hurt. Yes, did
Kirby start out with a little bit of a shoulder inflammation.
The problem you have to understand is that for every
day out, it's two days to come back, so every
day you count you got double it before he pitches again.
That's how it works. It's going to take some time.
(13:02):
Is he going to be okay, he's going to be flying. Yeah.
I think all these kids are on their way up
in their careers. They're going to pitch wonderfully in our ballpark.
It's tailor made for him. They're pitchers that strive to
get better and they come up with different ways to
improve their outpitches. We pitch in an era of the
big strike zone. They pitch in a big ballpark where
there's lots of room to challenge people and the strike zone.
(13:23):
I think Kirby and Gilbert are stars. Wu is like
he's got the invisible It's like how does he do it?
Fastball's coming and nobody hits it. And Miller, to me,
had got grit and smarts and he got better last year,
which was really a good sign after you know, a
lot of times you're successful as a rookie and then
people kind of figure you out. But this kid got
(13:45):
a little moxie and he's kind of he's made some
improvements trying to find the right breaking ball for himself
and develop in a split. So all this missing is
they don't have the fist guy right, and that's dragging
their numbers down. They're twelfth in the ra right now
because how many runs right they're giving up Ken in
in the in the five spot and two starts. That's
(14:06):
gonna bring your numbers down. Uh.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Bill Krueger's with us, Bill before we get to what
you're doing on social media, And Uh, I'm gonna just
check this real quick because either A you're multitasking or
B somebody is managing your Twitter account for you. Uh,
I just got to follow from Old School Underscore MLB.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Was that you Are you doing that at the same
time you around the air with.
Speaker 4 (14:27):
This No, that's that's the Uh, that's the my other account.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
God, unbelievable, man, you got a whole team of people
working for you.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Well, follow follow Bill at Follow Bill at Old School
Underscore MLB, and we're gonna see if we can pump
but we're gonna see you pump up this follow a
count by the time this segment's over. At Old School
Underscore MLB, give Bill a follow on that account right now.
So the roll blest thing for me, twofold How concerned
are you about this long term waiting for the MRI
(14:57):
results today. And then number two, why is there a
stadium in twenty twenty five where a player could fall
over a short wall and get caught in netting in
this day and age, How does that happen?
Speaker 4 (15:10):
Well, I know they put the nets out for this
whole protection of fans, right, And you know that's there's
an illusion there to the player, right, And what you
think you're running into isn't quite what you think it is,
so that I think you have to have a little
bit of judgment, right, Maybe that wasn't I mean, he
went after it and you got it.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Sort of. You got to give him a ton.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
Of credit for being so aggressive and making an incredible player, right,
But you also have to make a good judgment, right, because.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
That net's not there to protect you.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
It's supposedly up there to protect the fans from what
I understand, But that's way down the line, so I
don't know, I don't really understand it. I saw the
knitting down there. It seems kind of odd, right, Why
that knitting is there? So because you can see what happens.
He caught that ball and then his arm went up
against the net because it game it sublects his shoulder back.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Right, we saw what happened after they slowed.
Speaker 4 (16:01):
It down and took a look at it.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
It was a pretty amazing play.
Speaker 4 (16:04):
Right. It was Derek Jeter, but not Derek Jeter, right,
I mean it was some kind of going in the
stands kind of play.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
He's hungry player.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
I mean, you know, he's at a little over aggressive
and comes sometimes it isn't always perfect, but boy, he's
really given this team a nice lift. They're going to
need him to get healthy and in return to be
the lamp they are. They don't have a leadoff hitter
and now they're gonna have to jigger the line up
a little bit. They've decided to go with KANDL and right,
they're bringing him up to keep Raley at first, I guess.
(16:34):
But then when you start, you know, playing the music,
and the music stops and everybody finds a chair. What
happens when Raley doesn't catch If Plongco can't play third,
I mean you need Plonk goes back. Now, what happens
That's a problem because to me, right now, it doesn't
look like he.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Can play third. Yeah, they got right, I'm not sure
he can play third. If he's healthy.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
No, he's a fish out of water. There's a reason
why he's only played twenty eight games his life at
third base up until this year. Doesn't have the arm.
Rayley's in right field tonight, by the way, with Polanco
and DH and they've got Dylan Moore over at third
against against Wiznski from the Astros, who they got in
the Kyle Tucker trade, by the way.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Over the off season.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
But Bill, before you go real quick, we just got
your four new followers at Old School Underscore MLB five
hundred bucks a follow so you can write a check
to me next time you see us. But you're on
Twitter with two accounts at Bill Krueger forty four and
at Old School Underscore MLB. So tell people about what
you're planning for social media.
Speaker 4 (17:36):
Man, Well, right now, the object is to start building building,
getting my voice out, building an audience. These are short
clips to try to say, you know, come and follow me,
and we'll see where that following takes us. If I
can get to a place where it looks like people
are paying attention to what I have to say, and
maybe you know, a podcast is the next step.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
I'm learning as I go I don't have it.
Speaker 4 (17:59):
All figured out, but I still have the zeal and
the interest to talk about the Mariner, baseball, talk about
baseball subjects, talk about things that I think people want
to hear, and as I said in an unvarnished and
non homogenized way.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
I love it. I love it well.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
That broadcast again is not the same without you, man,
for sure. We miss you on TV and looking forward
to hearing you're more on the radio. Pel great stuff,
and best of luck with the social media venture. And
we're gonna bug you soon. All right, we'll talk again.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Man, that'd be great. Dave love to be on with
you guys. Yea, yeah, UK to you.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Good stuff. Bill Krueger with us. We're gonna get a break.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
I think we're gonna head to the Alamo Dome, where
we are literally about thirty minutes away from tip off
with Houston and Florida. Got a buddy of ours, Matt
Thomas Hugh that does a radio show in Houston. He
is in the stands. I got a quick update from him,
and then I gotta get after you a little bit,
my friend. All right, I gotta bust your chops about
something coming up on ninety three to three KJRFM,
When you hear this Week in Baseball, For many, many,
many years on this radio show meant one thing and
one thing only, and that was Bill Krueger joining us
after a Mariner victory, which clearly we are not doing
that anymore on this show.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Because the Mariners lost yesterday.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
But maybe Bill Kruger joining us we'll jumpstart the team
to bigger and better things.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Billy, it's Softie and Hugh Mill And how are you, man.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
I'm good. I'm looking for that rainbow, you know.
Speaker 4 (00:27):
We had that heavy shower, you know, kind of looking
for that big arc to fall across the beautiful Seattle
and change the fortunes of the team.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Right yeah, well we're all waiting for that.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Man.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
First of all, it's great to hear your voice. It's
been too long.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
And I'll just say this right now, miss you like
mad on the broadcast. That broadcast is not the same
whether pregame, postgame, or during the game without you and
your input. So they are lesser for it for not
having you there as a part of that. But we
appreciate you doing this with us. And we haven't caught
and caught up in a while. I mean, it feels
like there's a ton of stuff to talk about, cal
(01:03):
Rawley's contract, the movement or lack thereof, and free agency
over the offseason. What do you just make a Mariner
baseball circuit twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Men just feels a little bit like holding serve right.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
I'm not really changing anything, not really trying to to
really improve things, trying to bet upon the strength that
you have. Right, great starting pitching and a very very
good young closer. That's what you're betting on. And you know,
when you take the template of this team, if you
were to go back at the end of the the
season and you took you could take a snapshot of
(01:39):
all the teams before for agency and said, you know,
if you're put all the gentle manager in a room
and you maybe tape the top of the teams off
and say, you know, if you look at the core,
which team would you like. I've got a lot of
teams to take the core of the Mariners. Superstar to
be centerfielder, young, controlled, good short stuf up, all world catcher,
(02:02):
five premium starters, and a young closer that's very good.
That's kind of like Yatzi really, I mean, you're filling
the rest of the cracks. You got room to fill
it in because you're you're not you're not overburdened by money.
Wouldn't anybody want to take that?
Speaker 3 (02:15):
And you have a.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
Town with a with a with a big following or
wonderful ballpark and very affluent business culture.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Uh yeah, wouldn't you take that? You would?
Speaker 5 (02:27):
And they have the third youngest pitching staff. Uh so
put that all together. And and if you're GM Billy
Krueger for the Mariners, what is the one move that
was ever discussed or maybe it wasn't discussed. What what
is the one thing that just kind of sticks in
your craw the most about the inactivity of the Mariners?
(02:48):
What move would have you made or really tried to
make had you been in charge of the team.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
Well, I mean, they just need some reliable RBI pe
bats and probably some guy that's got kind of the
juice to give you a lot of all fields hitting
that can hit for.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
A high average. And it's not easy. I get it.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
Teams players aren't necessarily you know, hitters are not necessarily
enamored about coming to Seattle because the ballpark has a
reputation for being a tough place to hit and it's
long ways from the center of their lives more than likely, right,
So there's a lot of things to work against you.
So you're kind of forced to ending up a little
bit if you're going to get somebody of that quality.
(03:30):
I want so to Probably not in their game. Probably
wasn't someone they could go and chase. And then you
had Christian Walker, who's a solid right hand hitting which
isn't perfect first base from with a gold glove. That
would have been a slightly cheaper player in the in
the vein of where they needed help, which is first base.
You have Pete Alonzo that fell to the bottom of
(03:53):
the market, but then again, you know he's not quite
the player that Walker is, but he has a lot
of power and marriage lack power. And of course you
know Bragman, who's uh you know, eats nails for breakfast,
just charismatic to beat the band, a hard nosed player
that can really hit and really play. Those are all
great players. And maybe the Mariners, whether they were in
(04:16):
we don't think they were on any of those players,
really in on those players.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
It's good.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
It would have taken some creativity. I think I think
they they need to be a little bit more creative
and will almost kid Mahall passed to say, maybe they
couldn't really make sense of those players. Let's just say
because A it's a premium B the player doesn't want
to come here, so you have to maybe think about
it via trade and the guy you should be thinking
about trading. And this may seem a little bit conratuitive
(04:41):
with what I said. You trade, You trade Luis Castillo
because Luis Castillo is at a place where he's plateaued
and it's only gonna not precipitously, but it's going to
start to come down.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Flat arm angle.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
Losing v Low is gonna have to be He was
pretty good his last start. Man he got us, He
pitched in the zone. It was impressive with some movement.
But I see seventy two million on the docket, and
I say, if there's a market for that guy, And
there was a lot of time in that market this
past year where I think Luis Custial was marketable and
maybe you get the right player and return and maybe
(05:14):
you don't, and maybe there's some horse trading, but there's
money that comes back your way, now, doesn't it right?
Maybe you can use that money for something else. Well,
what do you do about that starter spot? My thought is,
and I could be wrong, there's always risk in everything,
but take a look at the kid that pitched at
East Side Catholic. That, wow, it is during the playoffs
a left handed starter that happens to come from this area,
(05:36):
live in some amish, Matt Boyd.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
He's starting for the Cubs.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
They gave him a two year I think it's two
years twenty nine. The Mariners lacked left handed pitching. It
killed them last year in the playoffs. They didn't the
playoff run. They didn't lose because they couldn't hit. The
last six weeks. They lost because Dan Wilson was forced
to try to push starting pitchers an out or two
more because they had no left handed release and they
(06:00):
had no overpowering one, two, three at the end of
the game without Brash.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
They need left handed pitching.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
So I make the move for Boyd, and then I've
either got resources to get a player from the deal
that I made for Castile.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Maybe I trade him and get a left hand to
some Red Sox. Right, make some deal. There's a way
to do it.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
There's always a way to do it, and still not
you know, have to you know, make a capital call
on the owners that seem to be very difficult to
place to go.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Well, Bill Krueger is with us, and he is, by
the way, turning over a new leaf like the young
kids do. And he's going to be very active on X.
Follow him at Bill Krueger forty four, and he's so
hip by the way, Hugh, He's got two accounts at
Bill Krueger forty four at Old School Underscore MLB. So
(06:51):
we'll chat more in a second about what's going to
be on the on those accounts, Bill. But I do
got to ask you about this year's team moving forward,
because look, I mean, you know, logic says it's three
and seven, it's ten games, all right. We haven't even
really gotten going yet. And I guarantee it there's gonna
be another three and seven run. Every team in baseball,
(07:11):
maybe even the Dodgers will at some point have a
three and seven run over ten games. How concerned are
you about what you've seen the first ten games? If
your confidence meeter was at a certain spot two weeks ago,
have the last ten games changed any of that one
way or the other for you?
Speaker 4 (07:32):
Well, I think if anything, and this may seem a
little bit surprising. There was a little bit more surprise
than there was, you know, despair. I mean, Jorge Polanco
comes out and it's four fifty to two homers. I'm
not so sure I thought there was anything left there
right now. There's a real problem there because you can't
get on the field. And that's a whole nother discussion
(07:52):
about why wasn't he a little bit further along? But
that's that's health and it's hard to call. But nonetheless,
he's fined to try to get healthy enough to play.
I saw nothing but question marks there, yep. And so
that's one. And Roblaze is proving to be the player
that we thought he was last year. Dynamic, offensively, hitting
(08:16):
two eighty, showing us that he can hit in the
lead us spot, be an impact player. So those were
those are real positive things.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Have they hit yet? No?
Speaker 4 (08:25):
Have they have their their their band aided kind of
solutions worked yet?
Speaker 3 (08:31):
No.
Speaker 4 (08:32):
But when you take out the number one starter, let's say, arguably,
the number one reliever, let's say arguably, you know, I
think this is a five hundred club, but those guys
just showing up. If Kirby and and Brash are playing
you're five hundred and this team's hitting one thirty two
with runs in scoring position. That will not continue. So
there's an optimism that this team will be better. You're
(08:53):
always better. You're always a safer bet. If you can
really pitch and can't hit, than then the opposite. The
opposite is definitely your death. We saw that play out
here in the late nineties in the Kingdom with all
those offensive players and not enough pitching to finish the game,
and they couldn't win when they had all those stars, right,
(09:14):
So pitching is always going to make you good and
give you a chance. And they've had a couple of
close games. I mean there's question marks for me. I mean,
obviously it hurts them not to have brass and they
don't have a lot of answers out there.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
They could have.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
Helped themselves a little bit more in the bullpen. I
don't think those were expensive reaches. They're kind of betting
on hope there with the bargains and Santo's and some
of these guys are just their reclamation problem rich projects.
For me, I think you should have a little more
certainty out there since you're playing with pitching right and
you're missing it. You're missing a guy that you knew
(09:48):
wouldn't start the season for you. But they're really What
bothers me is how they handle the five spot. I mean,
Emerson Hancock goes out and has a rocky one not
even one inning. Granted he wasn't good, but he wasn't scattery.
He just got hit a little bit, and they immediately
sent him a triple A and like never to be
seen again. And then they run a kid, Luis f
(10:09):
Castillo into the first game against the Giants. I don't
see anything there that's a relief pitcher, scattery control, doesn't
throw hard, a little bit of an angle with a slider. Sorry,
not good enough. I bring Hancock back to pitch. Look
at his numbers last year. I mean, he had some
great performances, had a pretty good spring. They've screwed him
(10:31):
up and given him a stupid sweeper breaking ball, which
is like Nintendo, it's not real baseball.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
Got to get rid of that.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
But this thing that goes across the everybody's like the
fashion place, like, oh it's fashion, it's trendy. No, it's
not good. You want the breaking ball to be hard
and sharp and go down. We're not trying to impress
you visually. We're trying to get the hitter out, so
I don't give up on him that quick. And then
why did they get those guys extra rest. I'm sure
they've got some interesting formula as to how this is
(11:01):
going to play out, you know, for.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
The next two series and beyond.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
Why would you want to rest guys when they're just
getting their pitch count up. Miller showed it he was
a little not in his best form his last start
against the Giants. We've waited seven days to pitch again.
WU had to wait? What's the point in waiting? But
that kids picked the third game. I just don't get it.
So there's some questions there on that for me. So
(11:26):
I think it's not as bad as it looks. Certainly
with role plays hurt that's not good and Polanco looking
like he's maybe a DH that's not good either. So
they've got some real problems to address with some of
these with some of these injuries, that's for sure. And
waiting on Kirby hoping that he's just going to be
a okay and and Brah should be here pretty soon.
I'm pretty confident about that.
Speaker 5 (11:46):
Well, we'll get to the Roblace injury here in a second,
but Billy Krueger with us and and Bill I want
to stick with the pitching staff here in that because
the handwringing the offseason, of course, was the failure to
fort to five the lineup. But there was enough chatter
too that, okay, the young pitchers, they were so good.
(12:06):
Is it reasonable to expect them to be that good?
I mean, I'll give you two stats an old school era,
as you know, Mariner's staff was number one in baseball.
Last year a new stat ops sixty nine was the
lowest number one in baseball. That's pretty good. How concerned
are you as really good obviously? How concerned are you that, hey,
(12:28):
just by the natural order of things, you just can't
expect them to be at that level? Or do you
see it differently?
Speaker 4 (12:37):
I see these guys that are all on the beginning
of their journey.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
They're going to get better.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
These are not older pitchers, These are not pictures that
are going to be prone to getting hurt. Yes, did
Kirby start out with a little bit of a shoulder inflammation.
The problem you have to understand is that for every
day out, it's two days to come back, so every
day you count you got double it before he pitches again.
That's how it works. It's going to take some time.
(13:02):
Is he going to be okay, he's going to be flying. Yeah.
I think all these kids are on their way up
in their careers. They're going to pitch wonderfully in our ballpark.
It's tailor made for him. They're pitchers that strive to
get better and they come up with different ways to
improve their outpitches. We pitch in an era of the
big strike zone. They pitch in a big ballpark where
there's lots of room to challenge people and the strike zone.
(13:23):
I think Kirby and Gilbert are stars. Wu is like
he's got the invisible It's like how does he do it?
Fastball's coming and nobody hits it. And Miller, to me,
had got grit and smarts and he got better last year,
which was really a good sign after you know, a
lot of times you're successful as a rookie and then
people kind of figure you out. But this kid got
(13:45):
a little moxie and he's kind of he's made some
improvements trying to find the right breaking ball for himself
and develop in a split. So all this missing is
they don't have the fist guy right, and that's dragging
their numbers down. They're twelfth in the ra right now
because how many runs right they're giving up Ken in
in the in the five spot and two starts. That's
(14:06):
gonna bring your numbers down. Uh.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Bill Krueger's with us, Bill before we get to what
you're doing on social media, And Uh, I'm gonna just
check this real quick because either A you're multitasking or
B somebody is managing your Twitter account for you. Uh,
I just got to follow from Old School Underscore MLB.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Was that you Are you doing that at the same
time you around the air with.
Speaker 4 (14:27):
This No, that's that's the Uh, that's the my other account.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
God, unbelievable, man, you got a whole team of people
working for you.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Well, follow follow Bill at Follow Bill at Old School
Underscore MLB, and we're gonna see if we can pump
but we're gonna see you pump up this follow a
count by the time this segment's over. At Old School
Underscore MLB, give Bill a follow on that account right now.
So the roll blest thing for me, twofold How concerned
are you about this long term waiting for the MRI
(14:57):
results today. And then number two, why is there a
stadium in twenty twenty five where a player could fall
over a short wall and get caught in netting in
this day and age, How does that happen?
Speaker 4 (15:10):
Well, I know they put the nets out for this
whole protection of fans, right, And you know that's there's
an illusion there to the player, right, And what you
think you're running into isn't quite what you think it is,
so that I think you have to have a little
bit of judgment, right, Maybe that wasn't I mean, he
went after it and you got it.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Sort of. You got to give him a ton.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
Of credit for being so aggressive and making an incredible player, right,
But you also have to make a good judgment, right, because.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
That net's not there to protect you.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
It's supposedly up there to protect the fans from what
I understand, But that's way down the line, so I
don't know, I don't really understand it. I saw the
knitting down there. It seems kind of odd, right, Why
that knitting is there? So because you can see what happens.
He caught that ball and then his arm went up
against the net because it game it sublects his shoulder back.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Right, we saw what happened after they slowed.
Speaker 4 (16:01):
It down and took a look at it.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
It was a pretty amazing play.
Speaker 4 (16:04):
Right. It was Derek Jeter, but not Derek Jeter, right,
I mean it was some kind of going in the
stands kind of play.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
He's hungry player.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
I mean, you know, he's at a little over aggressive
and comes sometimes it isn't always perfect, but boy, he's
really given this team a nice lift. They're going to
need him to get healthy and in return to be
the lamp they are. They don't have a leadoff hitter
and now they're gonna have to jigger the line up
a little bit. They've decided to go with KANDL and right,
they're bringing him up to keep Raley at first, I guess.
(16:34):
But then when you start, you know, playing the music,
and the music stops and everybody finds a chair. What
happens when Raley doesn't catch If Plongco can't play third,
I mean you need Plonk goes back. Now, what happens
That's a problem because to me, right now, it doesn't
look like he.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Can play third. Yeah, they got right, I'm not sure
he can play third. If he's healthy.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
No, he's a fish out of water. There's a reason
why he's only played twenty eight games his life at
third base up until this year. Doesn't have the arm.
Rayley's in right field tonight, by the way, with Polanco
and DH and they've got Dylan Moore over at third
against against Wiznski from the Astros, who they got in
the Kyle Tucker trade, by the way.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Over the off season.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
But Bill, before you go real quick, we just got
your four new followers at Old School Underscore MLB five
hundred bucks a follow so you can write a check
to me next time you see us. But you're on
Twitter with two accounts at Bill Krueger forty four and
at Old School Underscore MLB. So tell people about what
you're planning for social media.
Speaker 4 (17:36):
Man, Well, right now, the object is to start building building,
getting my voice out, building an audience. These are short
clips to try to say, you know, come and follow me,
and we'll see where that following takes us. If I
can get to a place where it looks like people
are paying attention to what I have to say, and
maybe you know, a podcast is the next step.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
I'm learning as I go I don't have it.
Speaker 4 (17:59):
All figured out, but I still have the zeal and
the interest to talk about the Mariner, baseball, talk about
baseball subjects, talk about things that I think people want
to hear, and as I said in an unvarnished and
non homogenized way.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
I love it. I love it well.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
That broadcast again is not the same without you, man,
for sure. We miss you on TV and looking forward
to hearing you're more on the radio. Pel great stuff,
and best of luck with the social media venture. And
we're gonna bug you soon. All right, we'll talk again.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Man, that'd be great. Dave love to be on with
you guys. Yea, yeah, UK to you.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Good stuff. Bill Krueger with us. We're gonna get a break.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
I think we're gonna head to the Alamo Dome, where
we are literally about thirty minutes away from tip off
with Houston and Florida. Got a buddy of ours, Matt
Thomas Hugh that does a radio show in Houston. He
is in the stands. I got a quick update from him,
and then I gotta get after you a little bit,
my friend. All right, I gotta bust your chops about
something coming up on ninety three to three KJRFM,
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