May 7, 2026 • 20 mins
Bret Boone, former Mariners All Star, joins Softy and Dick Fain to talk about the weak American League West and division battle here and in other places, what the Mariners should do with their rotation when Bryce Miller returns, the bullpen fallout from the move including Luis Castillo’s position, Andres Munoz’s struggles, and Julio’s improved start.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Duke of Duke Seafood.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Lady, you know that this hour of Softian 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 kJ r FF.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Coming to you live from our Elliot Avenue studios of
Sports Radio ninety three point three kJ r 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 Booney,
here's Softian Dick.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
All right, we're back on a busy Thursday afternoon right
here on ninety three three kjr FM. Still there by
the way, Big thanks to our friends at Venue Kings
dot com and Alex rs Jackson. Yeah, that's getting worse.
What have you did? Just made it worse? Big thanks
to our friends at Yes Yes Yes. Jackson's given me
a no no, no stop that don't don't talk on
(00:58):
the mic because it's going over the I can hear
in my head. Whatever we're a mess over here. Go
get go, get Terry Ryan. All right, go get the
engine here, Terry Ryan. Tell him what's going on and
he will come in here, and I promise you he'll
fix it.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Does it make any bread on the phone?
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Unbelievable?
Speaker 5 (01:14):
No?
Speaker 1 (01:15):
No, that's fine. That that that portion's gonna be fine.
Speaker 6 (01:17):
Well.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Joining us right now, at least I hope joining us
now on the radio show here he is. He's got
Data White coming up on his podcast next week, by
the way, which leads me to kind of ask, are
we paying you like thousands of dollars a week to
do this show and you want promotion for your podcast?
You can have the money, the bag booon, or the promotion.
You can't have both. What do you want?
Speaker 5 (01:39):
I love both, Softie, and we have such a wonderful friendship.
You're so kind to promote my podcast along with doing
a real fun radio show.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
No question, Man, what do you think of that? That's
a good answer. That makes me feel all good inside.
I love that out of you.
Speaker 5 (01:53):
But let's warm, fuzzy. I'm here for you.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Yeah, You've always been warm and fuzzy ever since I
met you. Man, Let's let's talk about what's going on
with the EMS? I mean, just baseball, right, you get
swept by Kansas City, and then you take two out
of three and almost sweep the best team in baseball
in Atlanta. How about that?
Speaker 5 (02:10):
Yeah, Atlanta, that's first. I think that's the first series
Atlanta has lost. And once again, I'm looking at this team.
My opinion hasn't changed on this Mariner team. It really
hasn't changed since the beginning of the season. I have
faith with this roster. It's still one of the top
teams in baseball. I'm looking at the American Lege lot
of headshaking on what's going on going in today. There's
(02:31):
going into today, and I'm not talking about five hundred
ball clubs. Two teams in the American League are above
five hundred. Now Cleveland won, so they're above five hundred.
They were even going into the day. And it looks
like the A's are going to win. They're up right
now on Philly. Pretty big. But it's just amazing how
the American League as a whole is Scottland. I mean,
(02:53):
nobody is getting it done right now, with the exception
of a few teams, and you look at the division.
These Mariners are in. I mean, it's it's it's possibly
it's shaken out to be the worst division in baseball.
So Mariners, they're there, their roster construct and what they've got,
going off to a horrible start offensively, but they're they're
just better than the other teams. It's it's pure and simple,
(03:16):
and I think over time they're gonna show that well.
Speaker 6 (03:18):
Coming into today, there was many teams over five hundred
in the NL Central as there was in the rest
of baseball five and five.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
I mean, is the is the NL Central that good
or is the rest of baseball just that bad?
Speaker 5 (03:30):
It's amazing. I swear it's been within two years that
I started this preseason off with, Okay, what the divisions
and you break them down, and it's always well, in
the NL Central, probably the worst division in baseball, And
now now I'm sitting there going, oh, the best division
of baseball, the NL Central. It's crazy. This game is crazy,
and uh that's what makes that's why you play so
(03:51):
many and and we'll see how it works out, but
I think the NL Central is definitely definitely talented. Watching
this Cubs team, the Cubs teams won one eight or
nine in a row now they fifth team at home.
They're doing it every which way. They walked off the
Reds I think three times this week they walked them
off and in the ninth or extra inning. So that's
a real talented team. That's gonna be a fight right
(04:13):
there in the Central. I don't think their Reds are
as good as they played early on, but the Cubs
teams for real. Milwaukee's gonna be there. Yeah, that's gonna
be an interesting division. But the thing about this division,
I think being weak and some of the other divisions
not being weak doesn't mean they can't be a fun
Pennant race. You know, just because you're all hovering around
five hundred, it's just as exciting to find out who's
(04:35):
gonna win it versus the divisions that have two teams
that are way over five hundred. Tampa Bay doing it again.
How does Tampa Bay continue? They need to be studied.
The Tampa Bay Rays need to be studied. How they
do it year in and year out, with the turnover,
with that payroll. It's phenomenal what they do every year.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
It really is amazing, and there should be experiments done
on them. I'm with you to figure out what the
hell they're doing. But Brett Boone with us courtesy Venue
Kings and Booney, let's start with a conversation that we've
had a lot in the last couple weeks with you.
Luis Castillo has a negative point eight war right now
for this baseball team.
Speaker 5 (05:13):
Uh, don't care about Warshoft, You don't care about knows that?
All right? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (05:19):
Do you want to go on that everything sucks?
Speaker 1 (05:22):
How about that his whip is one point six six?
Is that okay to quote that? For God's sake? Smart guy?
But he's not pitching. Well, he had a rough outing
again on Sunday. I mean, maybe the stuff looked a
little better, as Dick and others have said, but still
not working out. And here comes Bryce Miller. Bryce Miller
may be activated this weekend. Bill Krueger thinks the Mariners
should put Bryce Miller in the bullpen. Chuck Powell told us,
(05:45):
I think last couple days ago he thinks the six
man rotation is a good idea. Uh, some of the
writers of the Mariners, Adam Jude, I think, are recommending
that maybe Miller and Castillo kind of split starts. One
guy starts, one guy's a long guy that none of
them involved doing anything with Hancock because he's a stud
not going anywhere. But what are you doing now? What
(06:06):
are you doing with the Castillo onance? Miller's healthy.
Speaker 5 (06:10):
I'm definitely not putting Miller in the bullpen. You know,
he's still I think Miller and what I've seen from
him in the past in the last couple of years,
I think Miller is another top top flight guy. Castile
has been for a long time. I like, you know,
I watched his last outing again, his velocity was there,
he just was not hitting his spots. He walked in
(06:32):
a runner I think with the bases loaded. That's not
like him. Lots of heaters. He was throw opposite of
Wou Woo's throwing more sliders and I don't have the
stats on it than I've seen him throwing a long time.
Woo's just usually living. But after a couple a couple
of tough starts for Wu, he comes back, he figures
it out. Pitched a great game the other day. I think, uh,
you know, without being on the inside and having those
(06:53):
internal discussions on what they think is best for me,
just being a layman on the outside, I've got no
dog in the fight. Miller's in my rotation, and that
leaves a pretty clear answer of who's out of the rotation.
So for me, I'm not messing with Miller. I put
him in the rotation and I turned you know, I
have Castill do that long that long roll. The good
(07:16):
news is you got Now you've got six guys, six
healthy guys. Castill's got to and not necessarily go to
the pen, but go to the pen. That's the way
it is. It's a it's a game of numbers and
right now, Miller and how they feel. You know, I
haven't followed him on his rehab. I don't know how
he's done. But the stuff that Miller has, if he's
one hundred percent, he's going in the rotation for me.
(07:38):
And the only logical answer is the guy that's scuffling
the most in a kind of star studded rotation has
got to take some time go to the bullpen. And
it doesn't matter your tenure or what you've done in
the past. It's win for me right now. And that's
that's my layman take on it. From the outside, you.
Speaker 6 (07:55):
Got a couple of bullpen guys injured, so Castile could
be a value down there.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
Because you know he's not a friend hitter, but on.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Lot of them should be in the bullpen.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
Right, Yes, what's what's Castillo's trade value? Brett? Is there
any at all?
Speaker 5 (08:09):
I think so. But I think he's gonna have to
show a couple solid starts. Like I said, I think
the velocity was was at least what it normally is,
or up a tick. His last start still had had
trouble getting guys out, So I think he's just gonna
he's gonna have to show a little bit a couple
of good games here and there, or if he goes
to the bullpen, he's got to come out and show
(08:30):
some shutdown ability. But I think his trade value as
long as he does that, it doesn't keep going backwards,
which a lot of guys at this age it's usually
a velocity thing, and now all of a sudden it's
not actually the velocity. But when they see the velocity down,
it becomes a mental game. Wait a minute, I'm not
throwing ninety seven like I normally do, boo, and now
I got to switch it up and try to pitch
(08:51):
like I don't pitch. The velocity isn't the thing for
it for him, right, now, so it must be a
mechanical thing. So yes, I think he'll get it figured out.
He'll he'll continue to tinker with what they do with
his pitching coach. He'll get it figured out where he's
a viable addition and could be for somebody if it
got to the point where where they wanted to make
a to make a trade at the trade deadline. But
(09:12):
I think he's going to have to show some right now.
I think there's a lot of teams that would take
Castillo in the right deal right now as is. But
if you can come back, get on track and so
show some shutdown in the future, I think then his
trade value goes up to what going into the season
we think would be a normal trade for Castillo.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Yeah. By the way, I was looking up Boonie been
with us. Your war in two thousand and one was
pretty damn good. But I'm not going to mention it
because war doesn't matter.
Speaker 5 (09:37):
And by the way, it's an irrelevant I told you
that Dante bischett career war was two point four. I'm
done with Warren. Okay, that's ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Well, there's only been five players in Mariner history who
had a higher war than you did in two thousand
and one, But we won't talk about that. Three times, no,
three times, Griffy twice, a Rod twice in your buddy,
your buddy, he did at one time in two thousand
and four. You actually had a higher war than Eachiro
did in two thousand and one when he won the MVP, you.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
Had a higher word than Yes, Julio's a one guy.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Eight point eight, by the way, is the is the
is the sixth highest of all time in a single
season in Mariner baseball history. But war doesn't matter, Boonie.
Let me ask you about Andres Munos. Now. Look, we
can sit here and feel good about the future that
he'll bounce back potentially, maybe you see things that concern you,
(10:30):
but we do have to talk about what's going on
right now because he's already a looted more home runs
this year than he did all last season. World Baseball Classic,
right pitch for Mexico. Not bouncing back. What are you
seeing from Andres Munos in the first month and a half.
Speaker 5 (10:45):
I see a guy that's that's scuffling, that hasn't had
a history of scuffling much. And sometimes when you go
through it, I mean it's a great thing to have
a ton of success early in your career and really
not have too many hard times. To look back on
those hard times, prepare you if you're for the future,
when I'll guarantee you you're going to have tough times.
(11:06):
I think it's just one of those things. You know
a lot at first when everybody started talking about this
World Baseball Classic and a lot of guys that played
in that Classic were off to horrendous starts, and at
first out it has nothing to do with it. I
thought it would help these players. But the more I
look at it, there's kind of something to it. I mean,
a lot of those guys that were in the Classic,
(11:27):
that had success in the Classic, it was exciting. They
were ramping it up well before they normally are ramping
it up, are really off to tough starts. So I'm
starting to wonder, you know, does the data the data
can't lie that much, and when there's that many people
across baseball scuffling, I think it's one of those things.
I think Munyios will deal with it. He'll work it out.
He's too young, his stuff is too good. But sometimes
(11:50):
you got to go through tough times and when you
haven't been through many you're kind of looking around, like,
what's wrong. This has never happened to me before. Well,
that's what we do in this game. We go through
those times, would come out the other end. I think
he'll come out the other end. I'm not worried about
him either yet. Yeah, but you know Brash Inspire, who
were huge in that bullpen. Right now, it's tough to
(12:11):
see him both go down. Brash still hasn't let up
a run since last year, so he's out. I think
they're both not that big of a deal, but you know,
we'll see.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
I just knocked on wood by the way, when you
said that about brush or whatever. This table's made out.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
Sorry, well you mentioned the WBC.
Speaker 6 (12:28):
I mean Julio struggled initially, but his struggles didn't last
as long as they do most years. I mean, Brett
Julio is thirty one for ninety six with five home
runs since April eleven. That's the best stretch of his
career this early in the season. He had one stretch
in late May in twenty twenty three that was like this,
but nothing this early. So why do you think Julio's
(12:48):
pulled out of the normal April early May slump so early.
Speaker 5 (12:55):
Well. I think we talked about this a few weeks
ago when he was quoted as saying, well, it's and
that's why I'm not hitting guys. It becomes a real
thing if you say it, and sometimes you say it
and just and you're talking to reporters, Oh, it's cold.
I never do good, nicol Oh, I never do good
in April. The more you say, you start to kind
of believe it subliminally yourself. I think Julio has talked
(13:16):
himself into that, like April's not my time, April's not
my time, and he just I don't think there's a
rhyme or reason. I really don't. I think a lot
of guys go into April, and if they haven't been
April players, they talk themselves into it. But I don't
think it's anything more than that he just found it
earlier than he normally finds it. You know, I hope
in the future he finds it April first. You know,
(13:38):
there's really no I never had that in my career
where yeah, statistically you'll probably you could probably go and
find out what my best month was, but it wasn't
a consistent thing. Every year, like, oh, here we are,
we're getting to June. This is where I heat up.
I have no idea. I might have had some good
June some bad Junes, but it wasn't something that was
in my mind that I was aware of. Now ballparks,
(13:59):
that's different. You go to Camden Yards. That was in
by the end of my career, Camden Yards was in
my head. But I don't think this is anything big.
I think Julio's just a big time talent. That's that's
come out of it faster than we like hit or
faster than he normally does. Hit a home run yesterday,
and you know, we'll see.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
You play with some pretty good shortstops in your career.
I'm imagining you pulling your hair out if you had
to play next to JP Crawford defensively, because he's terrible.
I mean, there's no way to sugarcoat it. JP Crawford.
I mean, look, he's starting to swing the bat a
little bit, but he's awful defensively. He's one of the
worst shortstops in baseball and out's above average twenty ninth
(14:40):
in baseball in that category. He's actually tied for dead last,
or excuse me, second to last behind CJ. Abrams or
in front of CJ. Abrams. With the Nationals, he's a problem.
He is a absolute problem defensively at shortstop. And I
wonder what the Mariners are going to do with it.
I mean, do they just and pray that cold Emerson
(15:01):
proves he's ready sooner than later? Bring him up? Because
Dick you mentioned it, he can play defense now at
this level, Cold Emerson can. So how much of that
would factor into your thinking on whether or not you
bring Told Emerson up or not because you got to
get somebody at shortstop with a glove.
Speaker 5 (15:20):
Well, I think Crawford's track record is he is a
really good defensive shortstop. All of a sudden, he's getting
to a point in his career where it's you know,
he's regressed, he's got a hit. Sure, I think it's
going to be the Emerson thing. Is going to be
an organizational move on when we feel it's best for
Colt Emerson to join the team from a career, from
(15:40):
his career standpoint, what's best for him, not we need
it right now. I think that's going to be more
of a strategic call up. When when is the time?
When is the passing of the torch until then. No,
I mean, what is craft Crawford's hitting two hundred right now?
They had a big week, hit a couple big homers
for him this week, and that come behind when where
(16:02):
they won five to four in the rage, no doubt,
but yeah, yeah, I agree. I agree. Crawford has definitely
regressed defensively. He's that's always been a strong suit for him,
but it's definitely noticeably down this year. But I think
that's gonna the Emerson thing. I think that is going
to be not a Crawford thing. That's gonna be when
(16:22):
is Emerson ready and we feel ready to put him
in the big legs and do this thing right so
his career can get off to the start that they
wanted to get off. It doesn't mean the organization they're
always making these plans and how they're going to do
it and when when's too early and when's too late.
It doesn't mean they're one hundred percent right. But I
think that's going to be that decision. In the meantime,
(16:43):
They're going to do what they do in the big
leagues with Reevas and Crawford, and when they decide Emerson's
time is that's when they're going to pass the torch,
not because of what the shortstops are doing. Does that
make sense?
Speaker 6 (16:53):
Yeah, Brett, you played one year in Atlanta in nineteen
ninety nine.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
You on the Ted Turner stories for us.
Speaker 5 (16:59):
Oh, oh, I got it.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (17:02):
Game it was a Game three Ted, and I hadn't
met Ted. I was there only one year. But it's
game three the World Series and him and Jane come
come wandering down at the clubhouse pre game, and I
don't remember the stocks. I don't remember the stocks. But
he was given his pre game Hey, I believe in you.
(17:24):
You guys wont one hundred and four games as year.
We're down to oh I think to to the to
the Yankees at the time, and he said, yeah, I
don't care about this. Oh and two your first two games,
we're gonna come back. We're you know. So he gave
us the typical raw RaSE. Jane sat there just sitting
there looking at us, like, oh, there's Jane Fonda, you
know on Golden Pond. Check there. And Ted was kind
(17:48):
of endearing. I mean, he was charismatic, he was funny.
It's one of those guys that you know, you give him, uh,
he's the host of the night. He was he was great,
He was a great embassy. But he went through his
little ship. And then at the very end he looked
at us and he goes, oh yeah, And don't I
forget You can't quote me on this. I don't remember
if it was Turner Broadcasting or something a stock he said,
(18:11):
Oh yeah, it was something he owned, he said, And
make sure you buy whatever the stock was. You know,
every everybody, everybody kind of nods their head, Oh yeah, Ted,
you own the company. Funny, funny, funny. Six months later,
that thing went through the roof, and guys on the
team we were talking to each other. Did he inside
or trade with us? And we didn't take advantage of that?
(18:32):
But that's that's the story I remember from Ted.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Well, would you like to know what your war was?
In that World Series against the Yankees? By the way,
I mean war?
Speaker 5 (18:44):
You didn't know what war was? Let me let me
give you a quick lesson. Didn't understand that. We understood
average homers, Ribby's. That's all we cared about, right. We
didn't know what these kids today know exactly how to
get a point on war here and a point on
war there. We didn't train for it. If we knew
we were going to be paid on war, I don't
(19:04):
know what my war is, it would have been way
higher and probably the other stats would have been lower.
That's what these guys do today. They trained for what
war and ops. They could care less how much they
strike out. They could care less what their average is.
As long as their war and their ops is in line,
and that's all they care about. That's what they trained for.
I can't get on them for doing it. That's what
teams are paying you for. But war in my generation
(19:27):
was not a thing. I'll guarantee you you go back. Now,
everybody's going to know. But back then, I f you'd
had said to the players across the board, got them
all in a room and said, do you know what
war is? They would all looked at you like you
had two heads. It wasn't a thing. Well, and that's
why I don't say war is not a thing. Now
everybody's well aware of it, but then it wasn't.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
War is supposed to encompass everything that a player does,
by the way, so but just so you know, the
Braves got swept in that series against the Yankees. Dick
and Jackson. It wasn't Brett's fault. He hit five. Yes,
I did.
Speaker 5 (19:58):
What was by war?
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Was my wars fifty million? All right? And then you
got dumped and went to play for the Mariners the
next year.
Speaker 5 (20:06):
Oh no, no, I went to the podcast.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
You hit fourteen eighteen. That was your ops fourteen eighteen
in the World Series. All right, Dana white'es on podcast
this week. Enjoy and have fun. We'll talk on a week.
Speaker 4 (20:21):
Man appreciate the double dip.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Yes, sir, yes, sir Brett Bone Actually, hey, don't pay
him for this week because we pumped this podcast. It's
one or the other. He gets the money or he
gets the promotion. He gave him the promotion.
This is Duke of Duke Seafood.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Lady, you know that this hour of Softian 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 kJ r FF.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Coming to you live from our Elliot Avenue studios of
Sports Radio ninety three point three kJ r 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 Booney,
here's Softian Dick.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
All right, we're back on a busy Thursday afternoon right
here on ninety three three kjr FM. Still there by
the way, Big thanks to our friends at Venue Kings
dot com and Alex rs Jackson. Yeah, that's getting worse.
What have you did? Just made it worse? Big thanks
to our friends at Yes Yes Yes. Jackson's given me
a no no, no stop that don't don't talk on
(00:58):
the mic because it's going over the I can hear
in my head. Whatever we're a mess over here. Go
get go, get Terry Ryan. All right, go get the
engine here, Terry Ryan. Tell him what's going on and
he will come in here, and I promise you he'll
fix it.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Does it make any bread on the phone?
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Unbelievable?
Speaker 5 (01:14):
No?
Speaker 1 (01:15):
No, that's fine. That that that portion's gonna be fine.
Speaker 6 (01:17):
Well.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Joining us right now, at least I hope joining us
now on the radio show here he is. He's got
Data White coming up on his podcast next week, by
the way, which leads me to kind of ask, are
we paying you like thousands of dollars a week to
do this show and you want promotion for your podcast?
You can have the money, the bag booon, or the promotion.
You can't have both. What do you want?
Speaker 5 (01:39):
I love both, Softie, and we have such a wonderful friendship.
You're so kind to promote my podcast along with doing
a real fun radio show.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
No question, Man, what do you think of that? That's
a good answer. That makes me feel all good inside.
I love that out of you.
Speaker 5 (01:53):
But let's warm, fuzzy. I'm here for you.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Yeah, You've always been warm and fuzzy ever since I
met you. Man, Let's let's talk about what's going on
with the EMS? I mean, just baseball, right, you get
swept by Kansas City, and then you take two out
of three and almost sweep the best team in baseball
in Atlanta. How about that?
Speaker 5 (02:10):
Yeah, Atlanta, that's first. I think that's the first series
Atlanta has lost. And once again, I'm looking at this team.
My opinion hasn't changed on this Mariner team. It really
hasn't changed since the beginning of the season. I have
faith with this roster. It's still one of the top
teams in baseball. I'm looking at the American Lege lot
of headshaking on what's going on going in today. There's
(02:31):
going into today, and I'm not talking about five hundred
ball clubs. Two teams in the American League are above
five hundred. Now Cleveland won, so they're above five hundred.
They were even going into the day. And it looks
like the A's are going to win. They're up right
now on Philly. Pretty big. But it's just amazing how
the American League as a whole is Scottland. I mean,
(02:53):
nobody is getting it done right now, with the exception
of a few teams, and you look at the division.
These Mariners are in. I mean, it's it's it's possibly
it's shaken out to be the worst division in baseball.
So Mariners, they're there, their roster construct and what they've got,
going off to a horrible start offensively, but they're they're
just better than the other teams. It's it's pure and simple,
(03:16):
and I think over time they're gonna show that well.
Speaker 6 (03:18):
Coming into today, there was many teams over five hundred
in the NL Central as there was in the rest
of baseball five and five.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
I mean, is the is the NL Central that good
or is the rest of baseball just that bad?
Speaker 5 (03:30):
It's amazing. I swear it's been within two years that
I started this preseason off with, Okay, what the divisions
and you break them down, and it's always well, in
the NL Central, probably the worst division in baseball, And
now now I'm sitting there going, oh, the best division
of baseball, the NL Central. It's crazy. This game is crazy,
and uh that's what makes that's why you play so
(03:51):
many and and we'll see how it works out, but
I think the NL Central is definitely definitely talented. Watching
this Cubs team, the Cubs teams won one eight or
nine in a row now they fifth team at home.
They're doing it every which way. They walked off the
Reds I think three times this week they walked them
off and in the ninth or extra inning. So that's
a real talented team. That's gonna be a fight right
(04:13):
there in the Central. I don't think their Reds are
as good as they played early on, but the Cubs
teams for real. Milwaukee's gonna be there. Yeah, that's gonna
be an interesting division. But the thing about this division,
I think being weak and some of the other divisions
not being weak doesn't mean they can't be a fun
Pennant race. You know, just because you're all hovering around
five hundred, it's just as exciting to find out who's
(04:35):
gonna win it versus the divisions that have two teams
that are way over five hundred. Tampa Bay doing it again.
How does Tampa Bay continue? They need to be studied.
The Tampa Bay Rays need to be studied. How they
do it year in and year out, with the turnover,
with that payroll. It's phenomenal what they do every year.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
It really is amazing, and there should be experiments done
on them. I'm with you to figure out what the
hell they're doing. But Brett Boone with us courtesy Venue
Kings and Booney, let's start with a conversation that we've
had a lot in the last couple weeks with you.
Luis Castillo has a negative point eight war right now
for this baseball team.
Speaker 5 (05:13):
Uh, don't care about Warshoft, You don't care about knows that?
All right? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (05:19):
Do you want to go on that everything sucks?
Speaker 1 (05:22):
How about that his whip is one point six six?
Is that okay to quote that? For God's sake? Smart guy?
But he's not pitching. Well, he had a rough outing
again on Sunday. I mean, maybe the stuff looked a
little better, as Dick and others have said, but still
not working out. And here comes Bryce Miller. Bryce Miller
may be activated this weekend. Bill Krueger thinks the Mariners
should put Bryce Miller in the bullpen. Chuck Powell told us,
(05:45):
I think last couple days ago he thinks the six
man rotation is a good idea. Uh, some of the
writers of the Mariners, Adam Jude, I think, are recommending
that maybe Miller and Castillo kind of split starts. One
guy starts, one guy's a long guy that none of
them involved doing anything with Hancock because he's a stud
not going anywhere. But what are you doing now? What
(06:06):
are you doing with the Castillo onance? Miller's healthy.
Speaker 5 (06:10):
I'm definitely not putting Miller in the bullpen. You know,
he's still I think Miller and what I've seen from
him in the past in the last couple of years,
I think Miller is another top top flight guy. Castile
has been for a long time. I like, you know,
I watched his last outing again, his velocity was there,
he just was not hitting his spots. He walked in
(06:32):
a runner I think with the bases loaded. That's not
like him. Lots of heaters. He was throw opposite of
Wou Woo's throwing more sliders and I don't have the
stats on it than I've seen him throwing a long time.
Woo's just usually living. But after a couple a couple
of tough starts for Wu, he comes back, he figures
it out. Pitched a great game the other day. I think, uh,
you know, without being on the inside and having those
(06:53):
internal discussions on what they think is best for me,
just being a layman on the outside, I've got no
dog in the fight. Miller's in my rotation, and that
leaves a pretty clear answer of who's out of the rotation.
So for me, I'm not messing with Miller. I put
him in the rotation and I turned you know, I
have Castill do that long that long roll. The good
(07:16):
news is you got Now you've got six guys, six
healthy guys. Castill's got to and not necessarily go to
the pen, but go to the pen. That's the way
it is. It's a it's a game of numbers and
right now, Miller and how they feel. You know, I
haven't followed him on his rehab. I don't know how
he's done. But the stuff that Miller has, if he's
one hundred percent, he's going in the rotation for me.
(07:38):
And the only logical answer is the guy that's scuffling
the most in a kind of star studded rotation has
got to take some time go to the bullpen. And
it doesn't matter your tenure or what you've done in
the past. It's win for me right now. And that's
that's my layman take on it. From the outside, you.
Speaker 6 (07:55):
Got a couple of bullpen guys injured, so Castile could
be a value down there.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
Because you know he's not a friend hitter, but on.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Lot of them should be in the bullpen.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
Right, Yes, what's what's Castillo's trade value? Brett? Is there
any at all?
Speaker 5 (08:09):
I think so. But I think he's gonna have to
show a couple solid starts. Like I said, I think
the velocity was was at least what it normally is,
or up a tick. His last start still had had
trouble getting guys out, So I think he's just gonna
he's gonna have to show a little bit a couple
of good games here and there, or if he goes
to the bullpen, he's got to come out and show
(08:30):
some shutdown ability. But I think his trade value as
long as he does that, it doesn't keep going backwards,
which a lot of guys at this age it's usually
a velocity thing, and now all of a sudden it's
not actually the velocity. But when they see the velocity down,
it becomes a mental game. Wait a minute, I'm not
throwing ninety seven like I normally do, boo, and now
I got to switch it up and try to pitch
(08:51):
like I don't pitch. The velocity isn't the thing for
it for him, right, now, so it must be a
mechanical thing. So yes, I think he'll get it figured out.
He'll he'll continue to tinker with what they do with
his pitching coach. He'll get it figured out where he's
a viable addition and could be for somebody if it
got to the point where where they wanted to make
a to make a trade at the trade deadline. But
(09:12):
I think he's going to have to show some right now.
I think there's a lot of teams that would take
Castillo in the right deal right now as is. But
if you can come back, get on track and so
show some shutdown in the future, I think then his
trade value goes up to what going into the season
we think would be a normal trade for Castillo.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Yeah. By the way, I was looking up Boonie been
with us. Your war in two thousand and one was
pretty damn good. But I'm not going to mention it
because war doesn't matter.
Speaker 5 (09:37):
And by the way, it's an irrelevant I told you
that Dante bischett career war was two point four. I'm
done with Warren. Okay, that's ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Well, there's only been five players in Mariner history who
had a higher war than you did in two thousand
and one, But we won't talk about that. Three times, no,
three times, Griffy twice, a Rod twice in your buddy,
your buddy, he did at one time in two thousand
and four. You actually had a higher war than Eachiro
did in two thousand and one when he won the MVP, you.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
Had a higher word than Yes, Julio's a one guy.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Eight point eight, by the way, is the is the
is the sixth highest of all time in a single
season in Mariner baseball history. But war doesn't matter, Boonie.
Let me ask you about Andres Munos. Now. Look, we
can sit here and feel good about the future that
he'll bounce back potentially, maybe you see things that concern you,
(10:30):
but we do have to talk about what's going on
right now because he's already a looted more home runs
this year than he did all last season. World Baseball Classic,
right pitch for Mexico. Not bouncing back. What are you
seeing from Andres Munos in the first month and a half.
Speaker 5 (10:45):
I see a guy that's that's scuffling, that hasn't had
a history of scuffling much. And sometimes when you go
through it, I mean it's a great thing to have
a ton of success early in your career and really
not have too many hard times. To look back on
those hard times, prepare you if you're for the future,
when I'll guarantee you you're going to have tough times.
(11:06):
I think it's just one of those things. You know
a lot at first when everybody started talking about this
World Baseball Classic and a lot of guys that played
in that Classic were off to horrendous starts, and at
first out it has nothing to do with it. I
thought it would help these players. But the more I
look at it, there's kind of something to it. I mean,
a lot of those guys that were in the Classic,
(11:27):
that had success in the Classic, it was exciting. They
were ramping it up well before they normally are ramping
it up, are really off to tough starts. So I'm
starting to wonder, you know, does the data the data
can't lie that much, and when there's that many people
across baseball scuffling, I think it's one of those things.
I think Munyios will deal with it. He'll work it out.
He's too young, his stuff is too good. But sometimes
(11:50):
you got to go through tough times and when you
haven't been through many you're kind of looking around, like,
what's wrong. This has never happened to me before. Well,
that's what we do in this game. We go through
those times, would come out the other end. I think
he'll come out the other end. I'm not worried about
him either yet. Yeah, but you know Brash Inspire, who
were huge in that bullpen. Right now, it's tough to
(12:11):
see him both go down. Brash still hasn't let up
a run since last year, so he's out. I think
they're both not that big of a deal, but you know,
we'll see.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
I just knocked on wood by the way, when you
said that about brush or whatever. This table's made out.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
Sorry, well you mentioned the WBC.
Speaker 6 (12:28):
I mean Julio struggled initially, but his struggles didn't last
as long as they do most years. I mean, Brett
Julio is thirty one for ninety six with five home
runs since April eleven. That's the best stretch of his
career this early in the season. He had one stretch
in late May in twenty twenty three that was like this,
but nothing this early. So why do you think Julio's
(12:48):
pulled out of the normal April early May slump so early.
Speaker 5 (12:55):
Well. I think we talked about this a few weeks
ago when he was quoted as saying, well, it's and
that's why I'm not hitting guys. It becomes a real
thing if you say it, and sometimes you say it
and just and you're talking to reporters, Oh, it's cold.
I never do good, nicol Oh, I never do good
in April. The more you say, you start to kind
of believe it subliminally yourself. I think Julio has talked
(13:16):
himself into that, like April's not my time, April's not
my time, and he just I don't think there's a
rhyme or reason. I really don't. I think a lot
of guys go into April, and if they haven't been
April players, they talk themselves into it. But I don't
think it's anything more than that he just found it
earlier than he normally finds it. You know, I hope
in the future he finds it April first. You know,
(13:38):
there's really no I never had that in my career
where yeah, statistically you'll probably you could probably go and
find out what my best month was, but it wasn't
a consistent thing. Every year, like, oh, here we are,
we're getting to June. This is where I heat up.
I have no idea. I might have had some good
June some bad Junes, but it wasn't something that was
in my mind that I was aware of. Now ballparks,
(13:59):
that's different. You go to Camden Yards. That was in
by the end of my career, Camden Yards was in
my head. But I don't think this is anything big.
I think Julio's just a big time talent. That's that's
come out of it faster than we like hit or
faster than he normally does. Hit a home run yesterday,
and you know, we'll see.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
You play with some pretty good shortstops in your career.
I'm imagining you pulling your hair out if you had
to play next to JP Crawford defensively, because he's terrible.
I mean, there's no way to sugarcoat it. JP Crawford.
I mean, look, he's starting to swing the bat a
little bit, but he's awful defensively. He's one of the
worst shortstops in baseball and out's above average twenty ninth
(14:40):
in baseball in that category. He's actually tied for dead last,
or excuse me, second to last behind CJ. Abrams or
in front of CJ. Abrams. With the Nationals, he's a problem.
He is a absolute problem defensively at shortstop. And I
wonder what the Mariners are going to do with it.
I mean, do they just and pray that cold Emerson
(15:01):
proves he's ready sooner than later? Bring him up? Because
Dick you mentioned it, he can play defense now at
this level, Cold Emerson can. So how much of that
would factor into your thinking on whether or not you
bring Told Emerson up or not because you got to
get somebody at shortstop with a glove.
Speaker 5 (15:20):
Well, I think Crawford's track record is he is a
really good defensive shortstop. All of a sudden, he's getting
to a point in his career where it's you know,
he's regressed, he's got a hit. Sure, I think it's
going to be the Emerson thing. Is going to be
an organizational move on when we feel it's best for
Colt Emerson to join the team from a career, from
(15:40):
his career standpoint, what's best for him, not we need
it right now. I think that's going to be more
of a strategic call up. When when is the time?
When is the passing of the torch until then. No,
I mean, what is craft Crawford's hitting two hundred right now?
They had a big week, hit a couple big homers
for him this week, and that come behind when where
(16:02):
they won five to four in the rage, no doubt,
but yeah, yeah, I agree. I agree. Crawford has definitely
regressed defensively. He's that's always been a strong suit for him,
but it's definitely noticeably down this year. But I think
that's gonna the Emerson thing. I think that is going
to be not a Crawford thing. That's gonna be when
(16:22):
is Emerson ready and we feel ready to put him
in the big legs and do this thing right so
his career can get off to the start that they
wanted to get off. It doesn't mean the organization they're
always making these plans and how they're going to do
it and when when's too early and when's too late.
It doesn't mean they're one hundred percent right. But I
think that's going to be that decision. In the meantime,
(16:43):
They're going to do what they do in the big
leagues with Reevas and Crawford, and when they decide Emerson's
time is that's when they're going to pass the torch,
not because of what the shortstops are doing. Does that
make sense?
Speaker 6 (16:53):
Yeah, Brett, you played one year in Atlanta in nineteen
ninety nine.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
You on the Ted Turner stories for us.
Speaker 5 (16:59):
Oh, oh, I got it.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (17:02):
Game it was a Game three Ted, and I hadn't
met Ted. I was there only one year. But it's
game three the World Series and him and Jane come
come wandering down at the clubhouse pre game, and I
don't remember the stocks. I don't remember the stocks. But
he was given his pre game Hey, I believe in you.
(17:24):
You guys wont one hundred and four games as year.
We're down to oh I think to to the to
the Yankees at the time, and he said, yeah, I
don't care about this. Oh and two your first two games,
we're gonna come back. We're you know. So he gave
us the typical raw RaSE. Jane sat there just sitting
there looking at us, like, oh, there's Jane Fonda, you
know on Golden Pond. Check there. And Ted was kind
(17:48):
of endearing. I mean, he was charismatic, he was funny.
It's one of those guys that you know, you give him, uh,
he's the host of the night. He was he was great,
He was a great embassy. But he went through his
little ship. And then at the very end he looked
at us and he goes, oh yeah, And don't I
forget You can't quote me on this. I don't remember
if it was Turner Broadcasting or something a stock he said,
(18:11):
Oh yeah, it was something he owned, he said, And
make sure you buy whatever the stock was. You know,
every everybody, everybody kind of nods their head, Oh yeah, Ted,
you own the company. Funny, funny, funny. Six months later,
that thing went through the roof, and guys on the
team we were talking to each other. Did he inside
or trade with us? And we didn't take advantage of that?
(18:32):
But that's that's the story I remember from Ted.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Well, would you like to know what your war was?
In that World Series against the Yankees? By the way,
I mean war?
Speaker 5 (18:44):
You didn't know what war was? Let me let me
give you a quick lesson. Didn't understand that. We understood
average homers, Ribby's. That's all we cared about, right. We
didn't know what these kids today know exactly how to
get a point on war here and a point on
war there. We didn't train for it. If we knew
we were going to be paid on war, I don't
(19:04):
know what my war is, it would have been way
higher and probably the other stats would have been lower.
That's what these guys do today. They trained for what
war and ops. They could care less how much they
strike out. They could care less what their average is.
As long as their war and their ops is in line,
and that's all they care about. That's what they trained for.
I can't get on them for doing it. That's what
teams are paying you for. But war in my generation
(19:27):
was not a thing. I'll guarantee you you go back. Now,
everybody's going to know. But back then, I f you'd
had said to the players across the board, got them
all in a room and said, do you know what
war is? They would all looked at you like you
had two heads. It wasn't a thing. Well, and that's
why I don't say war is not a thing. Now
everybody's well aware of it, but then it wasn't.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
War is supposed to encompass everything that a player does,
by the way, so but just so you know, the
Braves got swept in that series against the Yankees. Dick
and Jackson. It wasn't Brett's fault. He hit five. Yes,
I did.
Speaker 5 (19:58):
What was by war?
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Was my wars fifty million? All right? And then you
got dumped and went to play for the Mariners the
next year.
Speaker 5 (20:06):
Oh no, no, I went to the podcast.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
You hit fourteen eighteen. That was your ops fourteen eighteen
in the World Series. All right, Dana white'es on podcast
this week. Enjoy and have fun. We'll talk on a week.
Speaker 4 (20:21):
Man appreciate the double dip.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Yes, sir, yes, sir Brett Bone Actually, hey, don't pay
him for this week because we pumped this podcast. It's
one or the other. He gets the money or he
gets the promotion. He gave him the promotion.
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