May 28, 2026 • 21 mins
Softy and Dick talk to Bret Boone about the Mariners being in first place while under .500, whether Booney is a fan of the piggyback and whether he thinks a salary cap is good for baseball.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Coming to you live from our Elliott 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 Safti in Dick.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
All right, we're back on a busy Thursday night right
here on ninety three three kJ AR FM. Joining us
right now on the radio show courtesy of our friends
at venu Kings dot com. Again, World Cup tickets, World
cuple be here. Before you know you need tickets, We're
gonna buy them from a trusted source and not some
slag ball from Slovakia working for FIFA. Jump on the
website use code Saftia checkout for a discount for World
(00:42):
Cup tickets at venue Kings dot com. Here he is
our friend, Brett Boone, joining us on the radio program.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Booney, how are you man?
Speaker 4 (00:51):
Good guys? What's happening? Oh?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Not much, not much? I got a sweep of the
A's boney about that. M's back in first place?
Speaker 4 (00:59):
She did?
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Does that sound under five?
Speaker 4 (01:02):
First place?
Speaker 3 (01:04):
You sound like you're not impressed.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
What a division with this division. No, I'm not impressed
at all, but it was a good, good sweep. Things
of the week. Gilbert seems to be back to being
Gilbert had two great outings this week. I Castele Miller
the piggyback. It actually worked out. It worked out. Yeah, well,
(01:31):
now I gave up too, so I don't know. I
think over all, four and two in the week, had
a good week. This team is I've said from the beginning,
I thought they were going to be one of the best,
if not the best, the class of the American League,
and so far it hasn't been that. But a lot
of things in baseball right now are very strange. I mean,
I'm watching I'm watching these Cubs. Two weeks ago, they
(01:54):
went fourteen straight at home, and then they lose each
straight at home. They go from first place to last.
There's just so many different, diferent, different things going on
in baseball. It's crazy, crazy start to this season.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Let's start with a piggyback, all right, because I got
a feeling I got Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
I didn't know you guys wanted to talk about that.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Well, we haven't talked since Luis Castillo got pissed off
and threw his mitt and glove in the dugout. The
other day after a conversation with Dan Wilson, tell me
about this piggyback idea, because you know, look, I mean
Jerry Depoto, right, Dick came out and said, look, I'll
admit this isn't ideal, but we're gonna stick with us
for now for maybe equitable reasons. You know, Dan Wilson
(02:37):
even mentioned that word the other day, that it's the
most fair thing to do between Bryce Miller and Luis Castillo.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Are you a fan of this idea moving forward.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
Without being there, being in there, knowing the players involved,
their person that know from the outside. No, just a
layman's take. No, I'm not a fan of at all.
I don't care about fair. This is the Big Leagues.
I care the w's and that's it, and that's all
the Big Leagues is about, as wins and losses. That
being said, and we talked a little bit off air
(03:10):
about this, I go back to this is where I
say the manager makes his money. It's not about bringing
in the lefty. It's not about bringing in the right y.
In the sixth because the algorithm said to it's about
managing people. And I go back to when I was
a young player and I didn't understand that I was
a fresh new face in Cincinnati and I had a manager,
(03:34):
Davey Johnson, and man, I couldn't get it with him.
It seemed like he pushed my buttons and pissed me
off once a week. And there was another player on
the team similar credentials as myself, and he treated him
so well and with kid gloves and just nice. And
I used to it's so mad, and think, how does
(03:54):
he treat him like that? And what I perceived was
getting treated like garbage. Well, fast forward years later, I
had a conversation with Davy about I said, Boome, I
did that on purpose. It wasn't my job for you
to love me at the time. My job was to
win games. And I knew when you were in that mode,
you played better. And it's brilliant on the surface. He said,
(04:15):
if I would have done that to the player b
that I was referring to, he said, he wouldn't have
responded like you did. You've got to know your personnel.
I saw Casteel. That's not like him throwing stuff in
the dugout Danny. It's probably a very uncomfortable position. Danny's personality,
he doesn't like that controversy and the fact that he
had to have that uncomfortable conversation because that was the
(04:37):
plan to see caff steel that way what it ended
up pretty good because it's all about I don't care
if you as a manager. My job is not for
you to of course, everybody wants to be liked. I
want to be liked. Everybody wants to be liked. But
when I'm the skipper, it's not about being liked. It's
about winning games. That's the bottom line. From the outside, no,
(04:57):
I don't like it. I don't like I'm not about fair.
Fair is for little league. Yeah, we're going to be
fair in Little league ever, but he's gonna play equal
amount of time. That's great. So the Big League is
about winning games. So no, I don't like it from
the outside. But so far they're one to Oh. So
if they do it again and they win again and
Castillo's pissed off, he pitches really well, then I'll take
(05:20):
the pissed off Castillo throwing the ball great versus happy
Castile off to the start. Who's off to If that
makes sense.
Speaker 5 (05:28):
Well, I think one of the reasons why he was
pissed off is they did it prior and Bryce Miller
was the starter and they let him get the win.
They let him go or get the opportunity to get
the win. They ended up blowing it in the ninth inning,
but they and so they didn't do that Castillo. So
what don't you like about the piggyback? Is it the
structure of it, or is the lack of communication between
(05:49):
Dan and the players?
Speaker 4 (05:50):
What?
Speaker 5 (05:50):
What don't you like about the system?
Speaker 4 (05:54):
I just, like you said, we're going to be fair.
What is fair? There's no fair in the big They're
so who is the best? Whoever's the best player plays.
If Miller's my best pitcher, I want him in there
until I say it's not time for him to be
there anymore. It's not up good pitching. Bryce, You've done great,
(06:16):
but it's time to be fair. It's not about that.
That's not how we operate at that level. But I
understand that if they go in with that and things
go smoothly. Who am I to sit here and say,
like I said, you've got to be in that clubhouse,
in that doug out. Know these guys inside and out
to make those type of moves. This is the time
(06:38):
as a manager you make your money, not not where
people critique you for wins and losses and you have
nothing to do with it. Players win games, players lose games,
but managing people and this is the ultimate I could say,
this is kind of a big situation for Dan to
manage people. I'm sure it's not the funniest job in
the world, but this is where you're in your money
(06:58):
right here, and you handle this boast out of each
one of these guys in a real tough position.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Yeah, I'm with you on making decisions that are predetermined
before the game starts. The Miller thing, the Castillo thing.
If those guys are pitching their balls often they stay
in the game. How with your plan right to heck
with whatever you had to do right there for the game?
Speaker 4 (07:19):
There are no plans right right, right?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Well, what's the reaction you think to what Castillo did
in the dugout? It is it a positive reaction from
the player's perspective? Is it a negative negative? Or is
it just kind of a big nothing burger? You think
after he went bananas and the dugout the other day.
Speaker 4 (07:37):
I think it's nothing. The only reason it was something
is because he's the type of player that doesn't show
that type of emotion. And if it was somebody else that,
you know, that's that's kind of par for the course
for them, there'd be one thing. But to see that, uh,
it was just kind of odd. So it was a
bigger deal than it really was. Okay, we do that
all the time. We try to be as poised as
(07:58):
can be on the surface, but we all have our moments.
I know, I sure had my moments where I wouldn't
want to be caught on tape smashing bats and breaking things,
and you know, tried to do it behind the scenes.
But that's just a real emotion, right. They're pissed off
at the situation. He's probably just as angry at the
(08:19):
way the season's gone that he's put himself in this position.
I mean, that's what I would think as a hitter,
that's what I would think, you know, getting pinch hit for.
How could I put myself in this position to get
pinchhip or well I did. I'm a little angry. I'm
mad at the whole thing, but I'm kind of mad
at myself, So that's what I chalked it up as
from a team perspective, it's really not a big deal.
(08:41):
That's without knowing Castile and what makes him tick. Once
you get to know these guys. There are certain guys
I get sit there once I get to know them.
In Texas a year ago, I see a reaction from
one player and I say, he'll be fine. Don't worry
about that. That's not a big deal. I've sent a
CEO of a company getting the best out of his employees.
It's a It's not always an easy thing to do,
(09:02):
but right now they got to Danny's got to thread
that needle.
Speaker 5 (09:05):
What about managing the game? How much ConTroll do you
think Dan Wilson has in the decisions that go into
game by game, personnel, all that sort of thing. I mean, hell,
how much does your brother have in comparison to what
you think Dan Wilson has with the with the Mariners?
Speaker 4 (09:20):
Very you know, I really don't. I mean, all I
can do is speculate. I don't have any behind the
scenes with the Seattle Mariners with the New York An
because I really don't discuss that with Aaron. All I
can see is, you know, from my personal experience, and
I would say this different than when I was playing.
(09:42):
As far as the manager and the bench code, they're
going to have complete control of everything from with Z,
So these are predetermined things, and there's not as much
feel in the game as when I was playing. A
lot of a lot of the great managers I saw
on my day went on feel and it was a
gut and it's I I think a lot of guys
still do in big situations. You know, check your gut.
(10:03):
Your gut's usually right. But most of these movies you're
seeing are predetermined in a game plan beforehand. If this happens,
we're gonna go here. If this happens, we're gonna go here.
There's about four different scenarios. I would say. When you're
winning things are going good, the skipper's fully kind of
running the show. When things go bad, just like anything
in life, it seems like we're breaking out that matchup
(10:26):
book and we're just going through with a fine tooth comb.
That's when you've lost four in a row, you're looking
for anything, What does the book say? What does the
matchup say? But when things are going good and you're
winning games, it's kind of I would say, Danny runs
most of the show when things go bad, though behind
the scenes, I've seen it and now everybody's pointing fingers
at everybody and okay, let's see what the algorithm says
(10:48):
tonight we'll play that. So, yeah, it's like anything else.
When things are going good, Man, run with it. Run
that same lineup out there tomorrow. When things are going bad.
It seems like. Wow. I was in Bruce Bochie's office
for hours and we were tinkering with the lineup because
we just lost four in a row. And I'd say, Boch,
two weeks ago we went six and one, we weren't
(11:09):
having these conversations. He'd look at me and laugh, because
when we're one and six we have these conversations. So
it's just, you know, it's not much different than anything else,
any other business in life. And that's been my experience
so far. And Howard things are handled well.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Brett Boone's with us courtesy of Anya Kings every Wednesday, sorry, Thursday,
at five o'clock. And I want to talk to you
about Rob Refsnyder, who they had the other day hitting
clean up against Kansas City. He went oh for four
with three strikeouts in that game. But since the Royal
series is kind of starting to turn things around a
little bit here. He had a good kind of little
(11:44):
series down there against the A's even had a bomb
by the way, and he was.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Brought into hit lefties.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yeah, he's brought into hit lefties, and up until the
last couple of days, he hasn't been hitting lefties.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
I mean, how much patience do you have with this guy? Right?
Speaker 2 (11:59):
How much do you keep keep rolling them out there
before you just kind of feel like, all right, you
know this really isn't working. We got to cut bait
and go find a different option.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
Yeah. I think this last series against the a has
helped his case to stay out a little bit longer.
You get so many bullets and you get so many
lives when you're in a role like his. The tough
part about being in that role of a ref Schnyder
is you're going to have limited opportunities. You might go
on a stretch where for ten days you don't face
a lefty, so you're not even you're not playing, and
(12:29):
you've got off to a terrible start to start, and
it starts to snowball and it's like, okay, now I'm
not getting opportunities. I got off to a horrible start.
My swing's better. You know, I want the opportunity and
he's lacking them. Then you'll go a week where you'll
get three or four lefties in one week, and now
you'll get an opportunity to be out there. It's tough
enough when you're playing every day and struggling. I couldn't
(12:50):
even imagine when you're in the role that he's in,
where you know you're playing against lefties. But man, I'm
looking at the chart right here. We don't face a
lefty until next two, so I've got to keep myself sharp,
and I'm looking at that average at a buck and
a quarter going. This isn't fun, and I can't do
anything about it until I get that opportunity, and that
start probably isn't coming for five days, so it's a
(13:12):
it's an inenviable position, I think, to be in a
really tough I've always had a lot of respect for
the guys that played those roles, guys that came off
the bench. I don't know that I could have done it,
because it's it's tough to sit there coldation and you
haven't been in the box in a week. So I
always had a lot of respect for that. But but
I think this last week, this this last trip to
(13:34):
Sacramento did him some good, bought him some more time,
and hopefully he gets it going from here. You know,
Roeblace is back and he's going to be in that
platoon role as well, so they're getting healthy. Next, you
got to get Raley back and get it going from there.
Speaker 5 (13:53):
What about hitting Luke Raley against left handers? He did
get one at bad against the lefty at the end
of yesterday's game. It was nine nothing at the time,
so it doesn't really matter. But he's killing right handers.
Did he forget how to hit against left handers? Because
I imagine he did it all through Little League and
the miners.
Speaker 4 (14:11):
Yeah. You know, I always used to say, I used
to think of that as a righty. I said, why
does the lefty get the easy out? For some reason,
the perception out there is a lefty on lefty, Oh,
that's a tough matchup. But why isn't righty on righty
a tough matchup. It's the same exact thing, and I've
got to deal with it. That being said, I understand
the situation, especially when you get to a point where
(14:33):
you're pretty much playing against righty's, but you want to
prove to everybody you deserve a shot against left handed pitchers.
A year ago, I had Evan Carter in that position.
He really wants to play against left you, but he
wasn't getting opportunities. Like you said that. The bat that
came up the other day for Rayley, it's nine to nothing.
Of course they're going to give you that a bet.
(14:53):
They want to they want to see how you do.
They want to give you some confidence. They want you
to go up there and get a hit. But the
Rayley that's got eleven homers is in thinking like that.
He's thinking, Okay, here's a situation. I got one shot today.
They're gonna let me hit against the leftis I gotta
do good because the next time that's that's the anxiety
that comes in because you want so much to do
(15:14):
good so you're allowed to play against left handed hitters
and you become a real everyday player. There's an angst there,
there's a there's something that it's almost like your your
brain goes back to rookie status, like I just got
to prove to the guys that I can play. When
when you're doing a great job, but you're pretty much
playing against righties whenever you get that shot. I hate
to say it, but the only thing that's going to
(15:35):
change that is when he gets those shots in a game,
when when Danny doesn't need to go to a writing
in a big situations, he starts coming through and getting
some hits right. Because that's that that'll do anything. The
confidence that that gives you a loan, that's gonna that's
gonna be what makes you put him in the game
against a lefty. But it's easier said than done because
you really do, you press and your it seems like
(15:58):
your whole world you're having a great year and he is,
but your whole world comes down to want it bad
against the lefty that they let you face, and when
you don't get a hit, it's, oh no, they're never
going to let you hit against them again. So it's
a tough thing. But a lot of lefties, especially young lefties,
when they're first coming up, trying to prove to the
organization that they want to be in there against lefties.
(16:19):
It's a tough position to be in, but you got
to get through it if you want to be that
guy that's in the lineup seven days a week.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Yeah, hey, Boonie, Before you go, Brett boone with US
Courtesyavenu Kings dot com, We're going to ask you the
question that's been asked for one hundred years.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
You're an ex player.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
How would you respond to the idea of a salary
cap in baseball? MLB today sent a proposal to the
MLBPA where a salary cap ceiling and a salary cap floor.
Every team has got to spend one hundred and seventy
one million and they can't spend more than two forty five.
The interim executive director of the MLBPA, Bruce Meyer, has
(17:01):
already come out and basically said, you can take your
salary cap and shove it up your backside. The last
time you asked for this, it led to the longest
work stoppage in baseball history, which you were a part
of thirty years ago in ninety four. Would you be
in favor of a salary cap? Brett as a former player,
Absolutely not.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
Wow. Also, I like the floor because you can't have
a fixed without seeing the details of it and how
it floats and how it changes as time goes on.
As revenue, everything I think has to be hooked to revenue.
I love the floor coming up, but I don't like
the ceiling, and I know the Union's are not going
to like the ceiling. It's got to be something a
(17:42):
little more flexible than what scares everybody is the hard cap.
That being said, baseball is doing great, that's a reflection
of the salary. The salary is or a reflection of
the money coming into the game, the revenue. So you're
only as strong as your weakest link. And I learned
this from my dad. So when negotiating, I'm negotiating, but
(18:04):
i've it doesn't matter what I want, it's what the
collective wants. If I've got some superstars that say, hey,
we need to keep playing well, I need to be
able to measure that and decide how I negotiate going forward,
because you're not. It's not about you. It's not about
one person, it's the collective. If you're strong collectively, I
hate to say that, there will be a work stoppage,
(18:26):
and I think history has proven. You know, the Union
to this point has never given in to it. I
think last time they got it, they got a good deal.
It was a quick work stoppage. They got it done.
The games thriving. People are making a ton of money,
and I think the game's doing really well right now.
I just think with these recent signings, and I saw
it coming, you know, I saw it coming when they
(18:47):
signed Soto to that that unbelievable deal that nobody thought
was coming. We knew he was going to get paid,
but all of a sudden, he went to seven hundred
million and his name wasn't show hey Otani. I think
that got it raised the eyebrows of a lot of
owners and say, we can't have a Cohen and a
Dodger situation where they're just running rogue and the rest
of us are playing by the rules. All of a
sudden this offseason you get to a bow Bashett who
(19:09):
is a really good player, but all of a sudden,
he's making forty million. Once again, I think the eyebrows,
eyebrows rise and say, wait a minute, these two were
playing with different money than us, and we can't compete
as an As an owner, I completely understand their position
coming in. Of course they're going to come in with
that hard cap because as the negotiations going on, that's
(19:32):
that's kind of the power negotiating. It's like well, it's
a hard It was a hard cap now it's this.
So I think that's a starting point, and the starting
point is always going to be really severe.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
Yeah. Uh, well, we'll see.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
We may have a workstop and says you talked about,
we'll see how how hard of a line these guys take.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
But I'd hate I'd hate to see it. I hete
to see it. This game, the money and the money
in the game. I went through the strike. I was
there on the front line when Bud seally canceled the
World Series and I was a young player that was
a co rep of the Cincinnati Reds. It was all
new for me. It was blowing my mind. We missed
out on that World Series and it hurt the game
for the next two or three years until it recovered.
(20:12):
And the game will always recover. But people don't like this,
and as a fan, I can completely understand their frustration
with the money, the way it is that these guys
can't come together. But I think those those points I mentioned,
and the signings recently from a few organizations got us
into this position. I think you're going to start off
always as hard cap. At two point forty three months
(20:34):
from now, we might be talking some numbers that sound
a little bit more reasonable, but right out of the gate,
I expected nothing less than this.
Speaker 5 (20:40):
Hey, real quick, Brett, Would you be okay with a
soft cap where you could sign your own players and
go over the cap?
Speaker 4 (20:47):
I think that, Yeah, it's like it's the bad word,
the softcap or cap anything cap. But what's gonna you know,
how much can you punish people when they go over
that cap? I think as long as you can go
over it and it's not hard, I think there's a
negotiating attack in there to be had. Yes, that being said,
(21:08):
not up to date on all the numbers. Don't know
exactly what's being offered except for I see the same
thing you do. Somebody puts out a tweet with supposedly
what was offered. But I'd have to get into it
a little bit more, and I have to be a
little more well versed to really get into the weeds on.
I'm gonna have lawyers out there listening to me right now,
and they're explained it to me. No, that's not right,
(21:28):
it is, so i'd have to do a little more research.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Yeah, all right, Boonie, great stuff. Man, We'll see it's
going to be interesting, appreciate this and we're talking a
weeks man, right, Thanks guys, All right, Brett Boone with
us on the radio show. I did ask John Stanton
about this idea on opening day. I think you were gone,
you're on vacation, but John Stanton came by Jimmy's and
I asked him about what he thought about a salary cap.
(21:52):
We'll play his answer for you next on ninety three
three KJRFM
Coming to you live from our Elliott 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 Safti in Dick.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
All right, we're back on a busy Thursday night right
here on ninety three three kJ AR FM. Joining us
right now on the radio show courtesy of our friends
at venu Kings dot com. Again, World Cup tickets, World
cuple be here. Before you know you need tickets, We're
gonna buy them from a trusted source and not some
slag ball from Slovakia working for FIFA. Jump on the
website use code Saftia checkout for a discount for World
(00:42):
Cup tickets at venue Kings dot com. Here he is
our friend, Brett Boone, joining us on the radio program.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Booney, how are you man?
Speaker 4 (00:51):
Good guys? What's happening? Oh?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Not much, not much? I got a sweep of the
A's boney about that. M's back in first place?
Speaker 4 (00:59):
She did?
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Does that sound under five?
Speaker 4 (01:02):
First place?
Speaker 3 (01:04):
You sound like you're not impressed.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
What a division with this division. No, I'm not impressed
at all, but it was a good, good sweep. Things
of the week. Gilbert seems to be back to being
Gilbert had two great outings this week. I Castele Miller
the piggyback. It actually worked out. It worked out. Yeah, well,
(01:31):
now I gave up too, so I don't know. I
think over all, four and two in the week, had
a good week. This team is I've said from the beginning,
I thought they were going to be one of the best,
if not the best, the class of the American League,
and so far it hasn't been that. But a lot
of things in baseball right now are very strange. I mean,
I'm watching I'm watching these Cubs. Two weeks ago, they
(01:54):
went fourteen straight at home, and then they lose each
straight at home. They go from first place to last.
There's just so many different, diferent, different things going on
in baseball. It's crazy, crazy start to this season.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Let's start with a piggyback, all right, because I got
a feeling I got Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
I didn't know you guys wanted to talk about that.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Well, we haven't talked since Luis Castillo got pissed off
and threw his mitt and glove in the dugout. The
other day after a conversation with Dan Wilson, tell me
about this piggyback idea, because you know, look, I mean
Jerry Depoto, right, Dick came out and said, look, I'll
admit this isn't ideal, but we're gonna stick with us
for now for maybe equitable reasons. You know, Dan Wilson
(02:37):
even mentioned that word the other day, that it's the
most fair thing to do between Bryce Miller and Luis Castillo.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Are you a fan of this idea moving forward.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
Without being there, being in there, knowing the players involved,
their person that know from the outside. No, just a
layman's take. No, I'm not a fan of at all.
I don't care about fair. This is the Big Leagues.
I care the w's and that's it, and that's all
the Big Leagues is about, as wins and losses. That
being said, and we talked a little bit off air
(03:10):
about this, I go back to this is where I
say the manager makes his money. It's not about bringing
in the lefty. It's not about bringing in the right y.
In the sixth because the algorithm said to it's about
managing people. And I go back to when I was
a young player and I didn't understand that I was
a fresh new face in Cincinnati and I had a manager,
(03:34):
Davey Johnson, and man, I couldn't get it with him.
It seemed like he pushed my buttons and pissed me
off once a week. And there was another player on
the team similar credentials as myself, and he treated him
so well and with kid gloves and just nice. And
I used to it's so mad, and think, how does
(03:54):
he treat him like that? And what I perceived was
getting treated like garbage. Well, fast forward years later, I
had a conversation with Davy about I said, Boome, I
did that on purpose. It wasn't my job for you
to love me at the time. My job was to
win games. And I knew when you were in that mode,
you played better. And it's brilliant on the surface. He said,
(04:15):
if I would have done that to the player b
that I was referring to, he said, he wouldn't have
responded like you did. You've got to know your personnel.
I saw Casteel. That's not like him throwing stuff in
the dugout Danny. It's probably a very uncomfortable position. Danny's personality,
he doesn't like that controversy and the fact that he
had to have that uncomfortable conversation because that was the
(04:37):
plan to see caff steel that way what it ended
up pretty good because it's all about I don't care
if you as a manager. My job is not for
you to of course, everybody wants to be liked. I
want to be liked. Everybody wants to be liked. But
when I'm the skipper, it's not about being liked. It's
about winning games. That's the bottom line. From the outside, no,
(04:57):
I don't like it. I don't like I'm not about fair.
Fair is for little league. Yeah, we're going to be
fair in Little league ever, but he's gonna play equal
amount of time. That's great. So the Big League is
about winning games. So no, I don't like it from
the outside. But so far they're one to Oh. So
if they do it again and they win again and
Castillo's pissed off, he pitches really well, then I'll take
(05:20):
the pissed off Castillo throwing the ball great versus happy
Castile off to the start. Who's off to If that
makes sense.
Speaker 5 (05:28):
Well, I think one of the reasons why he was
pissed off is they did it prior and Bryce Miller
was the starter and they let him get the win.
They let him go or get the opportunity to get
the win. They ended up blowing it in the ninth inning,
but they and so they didn't do that Castillo. So
what don't you like about the piggyback? Is it the
structure of it, or is the lack of communication between
(05:49):
Dan and the players?
Speaker 4 (05:50):
What?
Speaker 5 (05:50):
What don't you like about the system?
Speaker 4 (05:54):
I just, like you said, we're going to be fair.
What is fair? There's no fair in the big They're
so who is the best? Whoever's the best player plays.
If Miller's my best pitcher, I want him in there
until I say it's not time for him to be
there anymore. It's not up good pitching. Bryce, You've done great,
(06:16):
but it's time to be fair. It's not about that.
That's not how we operate at that level. But I
understand that if they go in with that and things
go smoothly. Who am I to sit here and say,
like I said, you've got to be in that clubhouse,
in that doug out. Know these guys inside and out
to make those type of moves. This is the time
(06:38):
as a manager you make your money, not not where
people critique you for wins and losses and you have
nothing to do with it. Players win games, players lose games,
but managing people and this is the ultimate I could say,
this is kind of a big situation for Dan to
manage people. I'm sure it's not the funniest job in
the world, but this is where you're in your money
(06:58):
right here, and you handle this boast out of each
one of these guys in a real tough position.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Yeah, I'm with you on making decisions that are predetermined
before the game starts. The Miller thing, the Castillo thing.
If those guys are pitching their balls often they stay
in the game. How with your plan right to heck
with whatever you had to do right there for the game?
Speaker 4 (07:19):
There are no plans right right, right?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Well, what's the reaction you think to what Castillo did
in the dugout? It is it a positive reaction from
the player's perspective? Is it a negative negative? Or is
it just kind of a big nothing burger? You think
after he went bananas and the dugout the other day.
Speaker 4 (07:37):
I think it's nothing. The only reason it was something
is because he's the type of player that doesn't show
that type of emotion. And if it was somebody else that,
you know, that's that's kind of par for the course
for them, there'd be one thing. But to see that, uh,
it was just kind of odd. So it was a
bigger deal than it really was. Okay, we do that
all the time. We try to be as poised as
(07:58):
can be on the surface, but we all have our moments.
I know, I sure had my moments where I wouldn't
want to be caught on tape smashing bats and breaking things,
and you know, tried to do it behind the scenes.
But that's just a real emotion, right. They're pissed off
at the situation. He's probably just as angry at the
(08:19):
way the season's gone that he's put himself in this position.
I mean, that's what I would think as a hitter,
that's what I would think, you know, getting pinch hit for.
How could I put myself in this position to get
pinchhip or well I did. I'm a little angry. I'm
mad at the whole thing, but I'm kind of mad
at myself, So that's what I chalked it up as
from a team perspective, it's really not a big deal.
(08:41):
That's without knowing Castile and what makes him tick. Once
you get to know these guys. There are certain guys
I get sit there once I get to know them.
In Texas a year ago, I see a reaction from
one player and I say, he'll be fine. Don't worry
about that. That's not a big deal. I've sent a
CEO of a company getting the best out of his employees.
It's a It's not always an easy thing to do,
(09:02):
but right now they got to Danny's got to thread
that needle.
Speaker 5 (09:05):
What about managing the game? How much ConTroll do you
think Dan Wilson has in the decisions that go into
game by game, personnel, all that sort of thing. I mean, hell,
how much does your brother have in comparison to what
you think Dan Wilson has with the with the Mariners?
Speaker 4 (09:20):
Very you know, I really don't. I mean, all I
can do is speculate. I don't have any behind the
scenes with the Seattle Mariners with the New York An
because I really don't discuss that with Aaron. All I
can see is, you know, from my personal experience, and
I would say this different than when I was playing.
(09:42):
As far as the manager and the bench code, they're
going to have complete control of everything from with Z,
So these are predetermined things, and there's not as much
feel in the game as when I was playing. A
lot of a lot of the great managers I saw
on my day went on feel and it was a
gut and it's I I think a lot of guys
still do in big situations. You know, check your gut.
(10:03):
Your gut's usually right. But most of these movies you're
seeing are predetermined in a game plan beforehand. If this happens,
we're gonna go here. If this happens, we're gonna go here.
There's about four different scenarios. I would say. When you're
winning things are going good, the skipper's fully kind of
running the show. When things go bad, just like anything
in life, it seems like we're breaking out that matchup
(10:26):
book and we're just going through with a fine tooth comb.
That's when you've lost four in a row, you're looking
for anything, What does the book say? What does the
matchup say? But when things are going good and you're
winning games, it's kind of I would say, Danny runs
most of the show when things go bad, though behind
the scenes, I've seen it and now everybody's pointing fingers
at everybody and okay, let's see what the algorithm says
(10:48):
tonight we'll play that. So, yeah, it's like anything else.
When things are going good, Man, run with it. Run
that same lineup out there tomorrow. When things are going bad.
It seems like. Wow. I was in Bruce Bochie's office
for hours and we were tinkering with the lineup because
we just lost four in a row. And I'd say, Boch,
two weeks ago we went six and one, we weren't
(11:09):
having these conversations. He'd look at me and laugh, because
when we're one and six we have these conversations. So
it's just, you know, it's not much different than anything else,
any other business in life. And that's been my experience
so far. And Howard things are handled well.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Brett Boone's with us courtesy of Anya Kings every Wednesday, sorry, Thursday,
at five o'clock. And I want to talk to you
about Rob Refsnyder, who they had the other day hitting
clean up against Kansas City. He went oh for four
with three strikeouts in that game. But since the Royal
series is kind of starting to turn things around a
little bit here. He had a good kind of little
(11:44):
series down there against the A's even had a bomb
by the way, and he was.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Brought into hit lefties.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yeah, he's brought into hit lefties, and up until the
last couple of days, he hasn't been hitting lefties.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
I mean, how much patience do you have with this guy? Right?
Speaker 2 (11:59):
How much do you keep keep rolling them out there
before you just kind of feel like, all right, you
know this really isn't working. We got to cut bait
and go find a different option.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
Yeah. I think this last series against the a has
helped his case to stay out a little bit longer.
You get so many bullets and you get so many
lives when you're in a role like his. The tough
part about being in that role of a ref Schnyder
is you're going to have limited opportunities. You might go
on a stretch where for ten days you don't face
a lefty, so you're not even you're not playing, and
(12:29):
you've got off to a terrible start to start, and
it starts to snowball and it's like, okay, now I'm
not getting opportunities. I got off to a horrible start.
My swing's better. You know, I want the opportunity and
he's lacking them. Then you'll go a week where you'll
get three or four lefties in one week, and now
you'll get an opportunity to be out there. It's tough
enough when you're playing every day and struggling. I couldn't
(12:50):
even imagine when you're in the role that he's in,
where you know you're playing against lefties. But man, I'm
looking at the chart right here. We don't face a
lefty until next two, so I've got to keep myself sharp,
and I'm looking at that average at a buck and
a quarter going. This isn't fun, and I can't do
anything about it until I get that opportunity, and that
start probably isn't coming for five days, so it's a
(13:12):
it's an inenviable position, I think, to be in a
really tough I've always had a lot of respect for
the guys that played those roles, guys that came off
the bench. I don't know that I could have done it,
because it's it's tough to sit there coldation and you
haven't been in the box in a week. So I
always had a lot of respect for that. But but
I think this last week, this this last trip to
(13:34):
Sacramento did him some good, bought him some more time,
and hopefully he gets it going from here. You know,
Roeblace is back and he's going to be in that
platoon role as well, so they're getting healthy. Next, you
got to get Raley back and get it going from there.
Speaker 5 (13:53):
What about hitting Luke Raley against left handers? He did
get one at bad against the lefty at the end
of yesterday's game. It was nine nothing at the time,
so it doesn't really matter. But he's killing right handers.
Did he forget how to hit against left handers? Because
I imagine he did it all through Little League and
the miners.
Speaker 4 (14:11):
Yeah. You know, I always used to say, I used
to think of that as a righty. I said, why
does the lefty get the easy out? For some reason,
the perception out there is a lefty on lefty, Oh,
that's a tough matchup. But why isn't righty on righty
a tough matchup. It's the same exact thing, and I've
got to deal with it. That being said, I understand
the situation, especially when you get to a point where
(14:33):
you're pretty much playing against righty's, but you want to
prove to everybody you deserve a shot against left handed pitchers.
A year ago, I had Evan Carter in that position.
He really wants to play against left you, but he
wasn't getting opportunities. Like you said that. The bat that
came up the other day for Rayley, it's nine to nothing.
Of course they're going to give you that a bet.
(14:53):
They want to they want to see how you do.
They want to give you some confidence. They want you
to go up there and get a hit. But the
Rayley that's got eleven homers is in thinking like that.
He's thinking, Okay, here's a situation. I got one shot today.
They're gonna let me hit against the leftis I gotta
do good because the next time that's that's the anxiety
that comes in because you want so much to do
(15:14):
good so you're allowed to play against left handed hitters
and you become a real everyday player. There's an angst there,
there's a there's something that it's almost like your your
brain goes back to rookie status, like I just got
to prove to the guys that I can play. When
when you're doing a great job, but you're pretty much
playing against righties whenever you get that shot. I hate
to say it, but the only thing that's going to
(15:35):
change that is when he gets those shots in a game,
when when Danny doesn't need to go to a writing
in a big situations, he starts coming through and getting
some hits right. Because that's that that'll do anything. The
confidence that that gives you a loan, that's gonna that's
gonna be what makes you put him in the game
against a lefty. But it's easier said than done because
you really do, you press and your it seems like
(15:58):
your whole world you're having a great year and he is,
but your whole world comes down to want it bad
against the lefty that they let you face, and when
you don't get a hit, it's, oh no, they're never
going to let you hit against them again. So it's
a tough thing. But a lot of lefties, especially young lefties,
when they're first coming up, trying to prove to the
organization that they want to be in there against lefties.
(16:19):
It's a tough position to be in, but you got
to get through it if you want to be that
guy that's in the lineup seven days a week.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Yeah, hey, Boonie, Before you go, Brett boone with US
Courtesyavenu Kings dot com, We're going to ask you the
question that's been asked for one hundred years.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
You're an ex player.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
How would you respond to the idea of a salary
cap in baseball? MLB today sent a proposal to the
MLBPA where a salary cap ceiling and a salary cap floor.
Every team has got to spend one hundred and seventy
one million and they can't spend more than two forty five.
The interim executive director of the MLBPA, Bruce Meyer, has
(17:01):
already come out and basically said, you can take your
salary cap and shove it up your backside. The last
time you asked for this, it led to the longest
work stoppage in baseball history, which you were a part
of thirty years ago in ninety four. Would you be
in favor of a salary cap? Brett as a former player,
Absolutely not.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
Wow. Also, I like the floor because you can't have
a fixed without seeing the details of it and how
it floats and how it changes as time goes on.
As revenue, everything I think has to be hooked to revenue.
I love the floor coming up, but I don't like
the ceiling, and I know the Union's are not going
to like the ceiling. It's got to be something a
(17:42):
little more flexible than what scares everybody is the hard cap.
That being said, baseball is doing great, that's a reflection
of the salary. The salary is or a reflection of
the money coming into the game, the revenue. So you're
only as strong as your weakest link. And I learned
this from my dad. So when negotiating, I'm negotiating, but
(18:04):
i've it doesn't matter what I want, it's what the
collective wants. If I've got some superstars that say, hey,
we need to keep playing well, I need to be
able to measure that and decide how I negotiate going forward,
because you're not. It's not about you. It's not about
one person, it's the collective. If you're strong collectively, I
hate to say that, there will be a work stoppage,
(18:26):
and I think history has proven. You know, the Union
to this point has never given in to it. I
think last time they got it, they got a good deal.
It was a quick work stoppage. They got it done.
The games thriving. People are making a ton of money,
and I think the game's doing really well right now.
I just think with these recent signings, and I saw
it coming, you know, I saw it coming when they
(18:47):
signed Soto to that that unbelievable deal that nobody thought
was coming. We knew he was going to get paid,
but all of a sudden, he went to seven hundred
million and his name wasn't show hey Otani. I think
that got it raised the eyebrows of a lot of
owners and say, we can't have a Cohen and a
Dodger situation where they're just running rogue and the rest
of us are playing by the rules. All of a
sudden this offseason you get to a bow Bashett who
(19:09):
is a really good player, but all of a sudden,
he's making forty million. Once again, I think the eyebrows,
eyebrows rise and say, wait a minute, these two were
playing with different money than us, and we can't compete
as an As an owner, I completely understand their position
coming in. Of course they're going to come in with
that hard cap because as the negotiations going on, that's
(19:32):
that's kind of the power negotiating. It's like well, it's
a hard It was a hard cap now it's this.
So I think that's a starting point, and the starting
point is always going to be really severe.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
Yeah. Uh, well, we'll see.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
We may have a workstop and says you talked about,
we'll see how how hard of a line these guys take.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
But I'd hate I'd hate to see it. I hete
to see it. This game, the money and the money
in the game. I went through the strike. I was
there on the front line when Bud seally canceled the
World Series and I was a young player that was
a co rep of the Cincinnati Reds. It was all
new for me. It was blowing my mind. We missed
out on that World Series and it hurt the game
for the next two or three years until it recovered.
(20:12):
And the game will always recover. But people don't like this,
and as a fan, I can completely understand their frustration
with the money, the way it is that these guys
can't come together. But I think those those points I mentioned,
and the signings recently from a few organizations got us
into this position. I think you're going to start off
always as hard cap. At two point forty three months
(20:34):
from now, we might be talking some numbers that sound
a little bit more reasonable, but right out of the gate,
I expected nothing less than this.
Speaker 5 (20:40):
Hey, real quick, Brett, Would you be okay with a
soft cap where you could sign your own players and
go over the cap?
Speaker 4 (20:47):
I think that, Yeah, it's like it's the bad word,
the softcap or cap anything cap. But what's gonna you know,
how much can you punish people when they go over
that cap? I think as long as you can go
over it and it's not hard, I think there's a
negotiating attack in there to be had. Yes, that being said,
(21:08):
not up to date on all the numbers. Don't know
exactly what's being offered except for I see the same
thing you do. Somebody puts out a tweet with supposedly
what was offered. But I'd have to get into it
a little bit more, and I have to be a
little more well versed to really get into the weeds on.
I'm gonna have lawyers out there listening to me right now,
and they're explained it to me. No, that's not right,
(21:28):
it is, so i'd have to do a little more research.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Yeah, all right, Boonie, great stuff. Man, We'll see it's
going to be interesting, appreciate this and we're talking a
weeks man, right, Thanks guys, All right, Brett Boone with
us on the radio show. I did ask John Stanton
about this idea on opening day. I think you were gone,
you're on vacation, but John Stanton came by Jimmy's and
I asked him about what he thought about a salary cap.
(21:52):
We'll play his answer for you next on ninety three
three KJRFM
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