Brett Boone on All Things Mariners

Fomer Mariner, Brett Boone joins the show for his weekly visit. Brett shares his thoughts on if we should believe the ship has turned in the right direction for this team, in a must win game who do you want on the mound, how surprising has this bullpen been, and much more. 

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Brett Boone, gracious with us timestepping off the number four fair way to
join us here on the radio showand talk some baseball. Boonie, How
are you, man, Softy,how you doing? We're good. Me
and Dick had to man the shipalone a week ago. You're back.
Well, I'm glad to be back. I missed you. It's great to
catch you up. And what atime to be talking Mariner baseball. They

(00:20):
sweep your old team, the Reds, three straight, now a game under
five hundred. Should we start tobelieve that maybe the ship is starting to
turn in the right direction for thisfranchise. Pal, Well, let's not
get ahead of ourselves now. Yes, And we talked about it last week.

(00:41):
It was another, you know,rough start. We had rough starts
the last couple of years, butthis top to bottom and who's starting to
throw. He's going to be backsoon. Top to bottom, especially in
this division, there's no one evenclose to the quality of starters that the
Mariners have. I'm looking at thisteam. They made some change in the
offseason, brought in Polanco, broughtin Garber Suarez and ti Oscar vacated.

(01:07):
I don't think their offense is goingto be better. The more I look
at this team, I think theoffense is what it is. I think
a lot of the guys have gotoff the slow starts. They're going to
be better right now. You know, they're in the lower third in all
the offensive categories in the American League. Defense is going to be okay.
I think the defense took a hitfrom a year ago. But the thing
that remains consay is that starting rotationis so good. You've got four,

(01:32):
arguably four guys that are stoppers.What I mean by a stoppers in that
clubhouse as offensive players. We cometo the ballpark and when we've got our
top dog, you know, theVerlander, oh we're going to win today.
I think with that rotation, onany given day, you can walk
into the clubhouse and go, oh, we're going to win today, just
because of the quality of our starterdepends at the top of the league.

(01:55):
And that's not even with Matt Brashbeing on that He's hopefully on the mend
and going to be coming back soon. So Penn looks really good. Castillo
and Kirby have got off to somerough starts. They righted the ship this
week, and I think looking atthe looking at the statistics that they've had
six quality starts in a row asa as a staff, so one four

(02:19):
out of the last six had agreat week. And I look at this
division this year. Could this bethe year that that Houston stronghold finally shows,
you know, some some cracks inthe armor. And they're off to
a six and fourteen start. They'renot as good as they were a year
ago. Erlanders a year older.He hasn't thrown a bitch yet. Valdez
went down, which is huge,he's their number one guy. Could this

(02:42):
be the year finally that that Houstonjust isn't the team they've been And I
know from a year ago. Iknow Texas won the World Series, but
they're not as good. De Gramstill isn't pitching. Sures there's not pitching.
They're not going to be back untilat least the second half. And
you lost a huge guy that wentto Arizona and Montgomery. So I think
that if anything, this division ismore vulnerable than it's been in a long

(03:06):
time. And that Mariner starting rotation, it's too much, it's too much
superior to that division and all theother teams in that division. Boonie,
which picture would you want on amound in a must win game for Seattle
right now? And how'd you kindof rank them? One? Three,
four? Right now? I'll takeMiller. Miller's been the best guy at
top to bottom, but Gilbert's beenawesome, I think over the long haul

(03:30):
for me and over the body ofwork. I'm not talking this the beginning
of the season because obviously you're notgoing to take Castille or Kirby, but
over the long haul, big game, big situation, I want Kirby on
the mount, but any one ofthem right now, you know, Miller,
Miller's been has been the best sincethe beginning of the season. Castillo

(03:51):
right at the ship a little bit. I know he was in that rut
where you go out and give upfour every time out. Last time out
he gave up two. But inmodern history, and if we're gonna just
go with the hot hand, I'llgo with Miller right now. But Gilbert
equally has been great at the beginningof the season, Like I said,
and you're missing wu who would bein that fifth spot. Hancock struggled,

(04:12):
has struggled, but his last outinghe did, Okay, I just think
this is just a far superior startingrotation than anybody else. And for me,
in my experience in the game,you give me five really quality starting
pitchers, I think I have theadvantage over everybody else over in the Lobo.
Yeah. I mean, it's justit's more of a reason why it's

(04:34):
so important to win now, becausethis starting pitching is not going to come
around every year and you got totake advantage of this. And look,
I mean you're nine and ten andLuis Castillo has done nothing right. He's
going four with a five EIGHTYRA.He's leading the league and hits aloud.
The guy has put thirty six runnerson base in twenty one and two thirds

(04:55):
innings. What is going on withLuis Castillo? Man, I don't know,
you know what's interesting? And nowat a day and day and age
where we have so much data,we have so many great camera angles and
all that, I saw Kirby mixingit up. So so what I'm thinking
is they think they got they they'retipping their pitches. You watch Kirby in
his last couple outings, he's reallyuh doing some things in his mannerisms are

(05:19):
different via that than Kirby usually did. So he's really trying to mix it
up and not giving any of theopponents a tell Castillo maybe the same thing,
maybe the same thing. And andeven if you start to think I'm
tipping my pitches, I'm tipping mypitches, it starts to become a mental
thing. So I don't know ifthat's something with Castillo that that he's thought
about. Kirby's definitely aware of itbecause he's made some adjustments in recent starts.

(05:44):
I just think it's something Castillo.You got to let it play out.
You got to let it play out. Let's look at the positive.
He had a quality start his laststart, his first three or four.
We're not quality starts by any means. And when you're a top of the
rotation guy, you're expected to bethat guy that, even in tough times,
you don't put together two bad startsin a row, let alone three.

(06:05):
So I think that's something to bea little bit worrisome about. But
in the end, this rotation topto bottom is too strong, and it
can pick up the slack when oneof their main guys is is not pitching
up to snuff. How surprising hasthis pen been without Brash and Santos,
They've been rock solid for gosh tendays now. I think Stanik's been huge

(06:25):
coming over from as far as asolidifying presence out in that bullpench guy that
comes from Houston, you know,which has done nothing but have a power
pen and win for the last five, six, seven years. I think
he's been a huge, huge guyout there. Thornton's been great. I
mean, who hasn't been great?Sarsito has been great, Spires been great,
Munho's you know, he's got asub three e er eight. I

(06:47):
think coming into today, they're eithersecond or third ranked in the American League.
So they're just doing their job.And I think you hit it on
the head, Dick when you talkabout and Brash hasn't even been a part
of that. Who's in all electricguy that that eats up a lot of
those those big innings late in thegame. So his his, he's going
to be you know, he's goingto be received with open arms. He's

(07:10):
coming back. I think that pen'sreally good, and once again, this
is going to be pitching, pitchingpitch because I look at that team and
it's just as much as I wantthem to be, a real top performer
is on the offensive side of theball. I just don't think they are.
I look at this group, Ithink they're good. I think if
they play good and a lot ofguys had real rough starts and they're gonna

(07:31):
get better their track records, they'regonna get better. But even when they're
all clicking, I don't see himbeing a top offense. They're not going
to be an offense. So youtalk about like a Philly or in Atlanta,
or a Texas or a Houston,They're just not that. They're They're
not at that level. I don'tthink they have the ability to be at
that level. But if they canperform in the middle of the pack,

(07:53):
this team, especially in the division, has got way more firepower than all
their opponents. Well, Brett Booneis what I said. Normally Thursdays at
five Courtesyavenu Kings dot Com. Andthere's a guy sitting now in Triple A
Tacoma for the Mariners. You knowthe name. His name is Dallas Kaykel.
Obviously, he's a former cy YoungAward winner. He hasn't really had

(08:13):
a good run the last three orfour years. But I'm assuming that Dallas
Kaiko signed with the Mariners because therewas an idea that he would eventually maybe
get a shot at a big leaguerotation job. And he's got two starts
under his belt in Tacoma, teninnings of ball one run great so far,
but only you know, a smallsample. So how do you think

(08:35):
Dallas Kaykele kind of factors into thisthing at some point this year. Well,
Kaykele's kind of a throwback. Youknow, he's not a Jamie Moyer,
but he is a Jamie Moyer ofart of this generation where he's not
going to blow you away. It'snot about v Low, it's about Pigeon.
And you know he's off to agood start. Yeah, it's at
the Triple A level. It's asmall sample size, but still you're getting

(08:56):
out high level hitters in your firstten as only given up one. I
think that's nothing but a positive sign. I think it's something they looked at
the WU, they looked at Handcock, they look at the struggles that the
starting rotation had. You always gottayou always got to prepare for an injury.
So I think Kaiko keeps pitching.He could be a big addition to
this team. He's a pitcher firstand foremost. He's he's not a guy

(09:18):
that's gonna come out in velocity.You he's kind of like a Hendrix for
the Chicago Cubs, only the lefthanded version of that. But he's a
pro, and we'll see if he'sgot anything left in the tank. He's
had, like you mentioned, hehad a cy young cy young year.
Uh, he's had a lot ofUh. He's had a lot of success
at the big league level, butin modern times hasn't had so much success.

(09:39):
So it's it's it's good to seea guy like that, a guy
that's a true pro, a pitcher, and if you can pitch and get
guys out, there's always a spotfor you, even if it's on the
Mariners, who I think have theyou know, have the quality. When
it comes to that division, it'llbe interesting to keep an eye on him.
You know, Classe has made animpact in he it's one of the

(10:00):
three games he's played. When you'resitting in the dugout as a veteran and
you see a kid come up,how many abs do you need to see
of that kid to know, Hey, this guy's gonna stick. He's never
going back down again. It depends, It depends on the on the the
player. Uh. It depends onthe minor league experience that he's had the

(10:24):
age. Some guys you just knowfrom the start, it's just there's no
there's no way around it. Thisguy's going to be a big leaguer.
He's going to be a big leaguerfor a lot of years. Other guys,
you know, they get to thebig leagues when they're twenty four to
twenty five, have a good bodywork in the minor leagues, and let's
see how they handle the big stage. Let's see how they handle. Uh,

(10:46):
three decks instead of two, whichis in the minor league. They
always talk about that extra deck,which is a big a big league,
A big league stadium is different.You know, I came up and and
the questions I was asked when Igot to the big leage, Well,
this isn't as big a deal foryou. You know, you grew up
in the game because I did.My dad. When I signed and I
was in the minor leagues, mydad was still playing in the big league.

(11:07):
So my whole life has been atbig league venues. But I'll tell
you, I remember that day,and I remember it vividly, even though
it seems like a hundred years ago. Now. I played my minor league
career, I got called up tothe big leagues and my debut was at
Camden Yards and I remember at thebig press conference, I didn't sleep much
the night before I went out forthat first at bat on a big league

(11:28):
field. It's just different. Ican't explain it. You have to witness
it. It's different. Even thesenice ballpark State of the aar ballparks they
have now in TRIPAA that are bigvenues and really nice, there is a
difference of stepping on a big leaguefield. I can't explain it to people.
It's just more spacious. It's probablylike playing at a local bar and

(11:48):
then all of a sudden you're playingat Carnegie Hall. It's just different.
Some guys handle it, some guysdon't. But usually for the most rookies,
you need to see him for awhile. You need to see him
for a while because you're going tosee that looking there either starstruck. There
can I play here. We allhave those feelings as much as certain personalities
come out, and some guys seemlike, oh, he owns the he

(12:09):
owns the stage, and he's hereto stay. We all have our little
insecurities under the surface and until weyou know, we talked about it last
year with a Kellen Nick who hadcome up, had all these expectations.
He was known as the cocky kid. Well, he had his insecurities,
trust me. And that trip lastyear, if everybody remembers when he went
to Wrigley Field, had the bigshow. He hit that ball to center

(12:31):
field four hunder and eighty feet whateverhe did, it was wind blown,
but it was still a bomb.He came back and that was a defining
moment for him, Like all thistalk, he had finally and I'm not
saying Kellen, it's gonna be aHall of Fame player, but he had
finally got to a point where nowI'm a big leaguer, people look at
me different. Now. We allhave that moment. We all have that
moment where we've arrived finally, andI can't really pinpoint it, but it's

(12:54):
kind of a known thing, likeall right, you're one of us now,
but there is definitely that that periodof you got to kind of prove
yourself and everybody's different, and there'snot something I can really point to as
a tantible. This is the momentyou just kind of know, well,
Bret Boone's with us, and yeah, I'm looking at your debut ninety two
August nineteenth at Baltimore two for fouran RBI. The next day, Oh

(13:20):
for four with a couple of strikeouts. The next day though, Yeah,
I'll tell you I could replay itfor you, softy. I get up
my mind. I don't remember beit bad. I remember being like,
wow, this is different than myTriple A ballpark. But I hit a
bullet off Arthur Roads up the middleBuner scores I get the first. Randy
Milligan looks at me and he goes, kid, you got twenty nine ninety

(13:45):
nine to go, and I swearto you do this day. I looked
at Randy Milligan. I was goingto be respectful, and I really thought
to him, you know, Ican't be rude, but I'm going to
get way more hits than that.Fast forward fourteen years. I had even
come close to three thousand hits.It was a lot harder than I thought,

(14:05):
but that was my mindset then.But I had some tough sleddings.
If you follow my first twenty gamesin the big leagues. Yeah, there
was a lot of times where Iwas sitting after a game having a beer,
and I remember talking to Mike Blauersand going, blow, the big
leagues is hard, and he kindof gave me that look like, no,
you know what he's got. Yeah, that's kind of you know,

(14:26):
we all find our way, butit's it's a process. Hey, how
about this Rockies team that we're goingto see starting tomorrow, second worst record
in baseball. They lost five ina row. They have a run differential
of negative forty one. By theway, so far after the first few
weeks of the year, so fortyone years not been good. And it
kind of seems like a series wherethe m should go there and just rake
and just gobble up at least acouple of wins, huh, without a

(14:50):
doubt, and don't but don't takeit for granted. And this group of
guys, they're they're well seasoned enough. No, not to just oh,
this team isn't playing well. They'reat the they're at the bottom of the
division. We could just roll over. No, you never take anybody,
uh for granted. That being said, you match up, you take them
serious. As you know, they'restill a big league team. You got
to go in there and take careof business and win a series. It's

(15:13):
all about winning series. You can'tgo in there and think, oh,
we got to sweep them. Nowwe got to go win a series.
At Colorado, it's always different,always different for the pitching staff. Nobody
likes to pitch there. Then yougo from Colorado, you go to Texas.
Texas is doing okay, but they'rethey're not the Texas they were a
year ago. So they're you know, they're beatable. I think Texas until

(15:33):
the last series of the year lastyear where they lost three or four to
the Mariners and got bumped from thatwinning the division, they had to go
through the through the wild card route. They Texas had the Mariners number a
year ago. Well, this isa good time to get it back and
and have that division rival because Ithink it's going to be Texas Mariners,
and now we thought it was gonnabe Houston. I don't know if Houston's

(15:54):
going to be around. So Texasis probably going to be the biggest,
the biggest challenge in that division.So it'll be interesting to see how they
match up this week. But sofar, so good. Four out of
six. Hey, you're nine andten. You got off to a terrible
start. You're one game out ofthe division and you have superior pitch and
everybody else. I think the Marinersare in a real good seat right now.

(16:14):
Hey, Brett, the robo umpsseem to be working in the minor
leagues, and now we've got AngelHernandez calling pitches strikes that are closer to
the dugout than they are to homeplate. So I'll hear this. This
is fresh, this is fresh onmy mind, Dicky. I just got
off of podcast with Ted Barrett.He retired after the two thousand and two
season. Twenty nine year veteran.We I went everywhere with him. The

(16:37):
podcast will be out next week.On Angel Hernandez, the strike zone,
what we think the strike zone is, what the strike zone really is?
He said, the umpires are ina no win situation. He said that
box, and I've been wondering Iwanted to hear it from him. He
said, that box that we seeon TV is not how the umpires trained.
That's not how they're graded. Weget graded after each game. It's

(17:02):
completely different set of rules than yousee on that box. That box,
he said, should have an asteriskthat says for entertainment value only. Now
I got to the Angel Hernandez thingwith him. It'll be interesting for everybody
to see what he said. ButI threw in too, I said,
you know, Angel Hernandez, Inever had a personal vendetta with him.
I always got it, had arelationship with him. I got along.

(17:22):
But just like players, they're superstars. There's all stars, there's good players,
and then there's that guy that's thetwenty sixth man on the roster,
and he's lucky to have a UNIin his locker amongst the players. Even
in my time, it's always beenas Angel Hernandez is that twenty six man
on the roster. He's never beenone of the good umpires, never will

(17:45):
be. But I don't think byus, you know, watching that box
is a true accurate meture of whatthey're grading the umpires on. So he's
still a big leader. And Teddysaid to me, he goes, Boonie.
Is it better to be there's seventysix umpires now in Big league baseball?
He said, Is it better tobe the seventy six big league umpire
or be the number one minor leagueumpire? He said, the big league
pays a lot more, so,no doubt, I'll take the big league

(18:07):
job. Well, that does AngelHernandez good. That doesn't help us,
though, you know, having thatguy there. And you're totally right about
that box because umpires, you know, back in the day, were allowed
to establish their strike zone for thatday and with that box, they can't
do that anymore. Right, Buthe said the box is just for entertainment.
He did, Wow. If theball hits hits the corner on that

(18:29):
box, he says, that doesn'tor just outside the box, he said,
in our grading system, that mightbe a good call and that is
a strike, but in the boxit says it's a ball, he says,
So it's a no win situation.The public see in one thing,
but how they're actually graded is anotherset of rules, he said. So
we're kind of in a no winsituation. We have to call the game

(18:51):
according to the rules they tell usto call it on, but that's not
what the public seeds. Really interestinginterview, no doubt, Bonie, you're
the man, great stuff. We'lltalk in a week. Your buddy,
his man. Nice guys,