March 13, 2025 • 17 mins
David Samson of CBS Sports joins Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain to talk about what the Mariners did, and mostly didn’t, do this off-season, Jerry Dipoto’s comments and the financial situation of the team, the pitching staff, a possible work-stoppage, and playoffs.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Mariners in Cactus League play Tonight.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Two weeks from tonight is opening Day against the Sacramento
A's at t Moble Park. We're gonna call him Sacramento
or the Oakland A's or just the A's.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Are they going to be known as the Sacramento As
or just the A's.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
That's what I just said, you know, I mean, you said, are.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
We gonna were gonna call them that I'm talking about
like major League Baseball? Are they calling them the Sacramento's
or just the A's.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Well, if you go to ESPN's Spring training standings, they
just have them as the A's, Okay, And that's it.
Joining us right now on the air Nothing Personal Podcast,
Dan Levittard Show, our friend Dave Samson, Dave, how are you?
Speaker 1 (00:39):
I am doing great.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
We are two weeks away from baseball and I literally
can't wait. Although we're way closer because the regular season
opens in just a week in Tokyo when the Dodgers
and Cubs play.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Well let's uh, let's first of all before we kind
of dive into maybe some more national topics outside of Seattle.
You know, we're very two h six Seattle centric, obviously,
on this radio show, and here the Mariners have this
phenomenal pitching staff, and all of us were waiting and
hoping for the team to go out and make a
bunch of moves to strengthen the offense over the off season,
(01:14):
and then nothing, nothing, whatsoever. The most money they spent
on one guy was bringing back Jorge Polonko at seven
point five million dollars. So how would you characterize the
offseason so far for the Mariners?
Speaker 4 (01:28):
Man? I had so many off seasons like this where
we didn't do enough or we thought we didn't do
enough for our offense, and we were pretty proud of
our pitching, and there were some seasons where we thought
we were light on pitching, but our lineup was strong.
The reality is, I can't think of a team other
than the Dodgers in all of baseball that can sit
(01:50):
here today two weeks from opening day and say they've
got their ideal twenty six. And so what you need
is over performance from players from last year, and you
need continued health from your pitching. And that's when you
have the problem that Justin Turner talked about and that
we now see with Kirby being shut down for a
hot second is that having pitching health is super hard,
(02:15):
and when it happens and you don't win, it is
totally deflating. But the next year starts like this next
year is going to start for Seattle, and you can
again hope that you get better offensive production to match
what still should be even with Kirby Hurt a above average,
way above average pitching staff.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
What's your level of optimism for a bounce back from
the Polancos, the Garvers, the Jps, Mitch Hannigher, you know
that crew that's not the middle of your lineup.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
So the way I used to do this is that
I used to have a level of optimism that we
would have over fifty percent of our offense be above
their average at the same time time in the same year.
And so what I mean is that you need to
have in order to win, and when you're not the Dodgers,
(03:08):
in order to win, you have to have a career
year from several players together. And if you're asking is
the talent there, it definitely is. Is it likely that
you will get above average performance from multiple players at
the same time. It only happens for several teams per year.
(03:32):
So the hope is you're one of those teams. And
I went as a team president into every season thinking
this was going to be our year to be above
average from places we didn't expect it. And it worked
once that we won a World Series, and it didn't
work seventeen times when we didn't win a World Series
or even make the playoffs in my career. So the
(03:54):
hope is one thing. The reality is what unfolds over
the next six months.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Well, the word you just use reality has been thrown
around a lot with the word perception by our president
of Baseball Operations. And I don't know David again, David
Sampson with us on the show. I don't know how
much you've been following from your seat the Jerry Depoto
press conferences and every time he goes in front of
(04:20):
a camera, in front of a microphone.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Real good offensive team, he.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Just drives people nuts because he's trying to convince everyone
that they're wrong and it's not landing very well with
the media or the fan base in Seattle. Have you
been following any of that out here and why do
you think he keeps doing that?
Speaker 4 (04:39):
Well? I have, and he's doing it because that's what
we do. That's in the playbook for president of baseball
operations and presidents of teams is you want to fake
it till you make it. And the problem in sports
is that, unlike so many other businesses, every single day,
for one hundred and sixty two days, you are proven
(05:01):
either right or wrong. And so he can keep saying
it all he wants, but at the end of the day,
the record of the Mariners will be what the record
of the Mariners will be. And believe me, I would
stay awake at night dreaming about being right and getting
to sit in front of the media to say, Nana, Nanna,
I was right, you were wrong, and I was able
(05:22):
to do it, as I said one time. So it
doesn't happen very often, but every year I would go
in front of the media and I would say a
lot of the same things. Now, of course, as host
of nothing personal, I poke holes in what people say
to the media who are in the position of Jerry,
because I've been there and I know exactly what he's thinking.
(05:44):
When he closes his eyes at night, he's crossing his
fingers and his toes and he's hoping for the above
average performances all to hit at once.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
I'd love to know, because I need to know why
John Stanton, in his first four years as owner of
this baseball team had a payroll of eleventh, thirteenth, eighth,
and eleventh. I think most Mariner fans would be fully
appreciative of that type of financial commitment. And yet here
we are seven years after that last year I just mentioned,
(06:14):
and he's actually spending more money on less money on
payroll now than he did. Then is this an RSN
issue that he just doesn't have the money or do
you think this is a philosophical shift that he's just
not going to go back to doing.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
That ever Again, Well, listen, we shouldn't ask our team owners,
and this has been a real issue throughout my entire career.
You can't ask owners to lose money, except no one
believes that you're losing money. Everyone believes that these teams
print money on an operational basis, and it really is
(06:47):
not true, but no one cares. No one wants to
hear it because the view is you're a rich man,
you're a billionaire, you own a team that's worth billions
of dollars. I don't care be the Dodgers. The fact
is that the Dodgers are able to do what the
Dodgers are able to do because they have more revenue.
The Mets are able to do what they're willing to
(07:08):
do because they have an owner who is willing to
be irrational and is willing to lose tens of millions
of dollars. But even Steve Cohne came out this offseason
and said, hey, folks, this is not sustainable. This doesn't
make sense what I'm doing, but I'm doing it now.
But man, we better win. And I'll tell you now
(07:30):
if the Mets have another year where they make it
to the LCS but no further, and Steve Cohne looks
at himself and says, what am I doing? His payroll
is going to go down because their revenue can't support
the payroll. So having a payroll that is supported by
your revenue that is important. So the Mariners, to me,
it's not a payroll issue. And this is when I
(07:52):
want to be careful because I'm not impugning Jerry specifically,
but what I am saying is that the Mariners pay
level is such that if they're not winning, then at
some point you say we need different baseball decisions. And
I was in that position where we had to make
(08:13):
changes on the baseball side because at our low payrolls,
we had expectations that may have been irrational. But at
medium payrolls, which is where the Mariners are, they should
have expectations where they've got open windows of competition where
they are in the playoffs, and they were there, and
so the fact is you did make the playoffs, you
(08:35):
just weren't able to do it on a continuing basis,
which is what makes this season so gosh darn important
for the Mariners because if it's another year of underperformance,
then it's another year removed from the success and another
year closer to a closed window of being competitive.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Well, David Samson with US former president of the Marlins,
now with Dan Lemittard Nothing Personal podcast CBSHQ. Find him
on Twitter at David P. Sampson. By the way, on
X check him out there and give him a follow.
So is this like, for lack of a better term,
how much pressure is now squarely on Jerry because he
fired Scott's service a year ago, replaced him with Dan Wilson.
(09:17):
How much does he now move up to the number
one hot seat himself because he already fired.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
A manager listen, let's face it, that's how it goes
down the chain. You start with the pitching coach, hitting coach,
then you move up to the manager, and you move
up to the general manager, then you move up to
the president of baseball operations, and then eventually you move
up to the dawn president. So the owner is never
going to fire himself, and the owner has to blame
(09:42):
somebody when there is losing, and so eventually you run
out of runway. Is Jerry out of runway? I would
say no, because he's survived a lot of underperformance already.
So there is a possibility that Jerry's relationship with Stantons
such that there is an understanding that on field performance
(10:04):
will not be the sole arbiter of his future, and
in that regard, he may not be on the hot seat.
But if there were only results related, I think it
will be hard. If the Mariners lose ninety games this year,
it will be hard for him to survive that.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
David Sampson joining us.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Had the Mariners had a reasonable free agent budget instead
of the fifteen million dollars that they told us that
they have had, which they have spent about half of that,
where would you have liked to see them go realistically
in free agency.
Speaker 4 (10:34):
Well, I must tell you that whole business of giving
what a free agent budget is, I always found that
to be total horse hockey because you never know what
you're going to be able to spend what you get
from your owner. And CFO is an overall payroll. And
whether you do it through trade by taking on money,
whether you do it through free agency, you build a
(10:56):
team according to the payroll that you're given by the owner.
It doesn't go the other way where you just do
a bunch of signings and then say to the owner, well,
here's where our payroll is. So I never really focused
on it that, oh, they didn't spend enough money in
free agency, or they didn't spend enough in their arbitration
eligible players. I look at the overall payroll and so
(11:18):
for me, if you have more money to spend, where
I always would spend it is pitching, because pitching depth
is what's going to help you because again, he's got
the offense right now that if they perform at the
same time above average, it's good enough to get them
to October because of how great the pitching staff is.
(11:41):
So I would want more depths and It's not a
coincidence that the Dodgers spend a lot of money putting
together a ten member starting pitching staff, literally because you
need that sort of depth because the type of health
that Seattle enjoyed. And I don't have the stat in
front of me, Guys, how many starters actually started for
(12:02):
the Mariners last year?
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Six or seven.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Hancock was the one guy that got some real time
because Brian Wi.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
Got yes, and then Jonathan Diaz spots started like three times.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
That was it. It was basically five and a half guys, Dave.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
So just keep in mind that that is the dream,
but it is not the reality. Almost ever, we always
went into spring training saying, we need a depth chart
of fourteen men who can start a game at the
big leagues. You have five on your staff, and we
(12:37):
need two or three in the bullpen that can be
moved up into the starting rotation, and then we need
about six between triple A and double A who we
can bring up during the course of the year to
cover for injury and lack of performance. When you can
go through a season with five, six or seven guys,
it is just bad luck that the Mariners didn't win
(12:58):
ninety five games last year, and it's because the offense
did not play above average and it happened to me.
It stinks, but it's a new year. Anything could happen.
But I would take the over. If you're offered a
bet on any market on the number of starting pitchers
Seattle will use this year, it is almost impossible to
(13:22):
believe that it will still be only seven, because that
is a stroke of luck that is very hard to find.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Well, why do you think we were so pissed off
about last year?
Speaker 2 (13:30):
I whan you got this dream scenario, this unbelievable rotation,
and you missed the freaking playoffs because your offense stunk
up the joints.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
So look, we all get it.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
You know, we're waiting for Julio Crawford to bounce back, Garver, Hanneger,
Luke Rayley, we'll see about a Rose Arena whatever. But
at the same time, you might be Robin Peter pay
Paul because as you said, that pitching staff may not
be as functional and healthy as it was a year ago.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
So it really is disappointing.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
But David Samson's with us on the air, and David
got one more for you before you go.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
If I'm not mistaken.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
The curve CBA expires after the twenty twenty sixth season.
Are we heading for any kind of a workstoppage in
your mind down the road the next two years.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
I think it's guaranteed that there will be a lockout
after the twenty twenty six season. I think that you've
seen indications from the commissioner already. I think that you've
seen owners come out. On Tomorrow's Nothing Personal Live at
eight am Eastern, I'm going to talk about what Dick
Montford of the Rockies came out and said today, where
he wants a salary cap and a salary floor. You
(14:32):
have more owners fighting against owners because of the salary
and payroll disparity, and before you can argue with players,
you have to have a united front with owners, and
right now there is not a united front, and so
there's a lot of issues that have to be dealt with.
And I don't see a path to an early extension
(14:53):
where you get labor peace, like in the middle of
the year next year, to avoid any expiration of the CBA.
I think, like last time, it will expire and then
there'll be an immediate lockout by the owners of the players.
But it'll be the off season. So the real question
is do I think there'll be any miss time in
twenty twenty seven, And my answer is I think there
(15:17):
is a real probability there will be because it's still
a year before all of the national media deals expire.
If the new national deals were starting in twenty seven,
then the owners would bend over backwards not to have
any sort of delay. But they're better positioned to get
more money from the media companies with a good CBA
(15:41):
and a healthy league in twenty eight, and if they
have to sacrifice a little in twenty seven, I think
that that is going to be a plan that would
be worthwhile. But of course the goal would be never
to miss any time and only have a lockout in
the off season. But we're going to have to wait to.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
See David before it. Let's go real quick, do the
Mariners make the playoffs? And how many wins wins this division?
Speaker 4 (16:07):
So I have not yet done my preseason predictions, and
I would love to come back with you. I'm doing
it on March twenty sixth on Marking Personal And you
know what I did last year. I don't know if
you remember, but why would you Because you're focused on you,
which you should be. But I picked the Mariners to
win the whole damn time.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
I remember that you told us that. That's right, So it's.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
Your fat that was my World's all my faults, there's
no question. The good news is what I can tell
you breaking news. I am not choosing the Mariners to
win the World Series this year, thank God, which means
you're welcome. It means you've got a chance.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
David do the man, great stuff. Appreciate this well. I'm
David Well of course at David P. Sampson on X
on Twitter. Great stuff, buddy, thank you for doing this
and we'll talk soon.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Thanks my pleasure.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
Have a great day.
Mariners in Cactus League play Tonight.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Two weeks from tonight is opening Day against the Sacramento
A's at t Moble Park. We're gonna call him Sacramento
or the Oakland A's or just the A's.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Are they going to be known as the Sacramento As
or just the A's.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
That's what I just said, you know, I mean, you said, are.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
We gonna were gonna call them that I'm talking about
like major League Baseball? Are they calling them the Sacramento's
or just the A's.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Well, if you go to ESPN's Spring training standings, they
just have them as the A's, Okay, And that's it.
Joining us right now on the air Nothing Personal Podcast,
Dan Levittard Show, our friend Dave Samson, Dave, how are you?
Speaker 1 (00:39):
I am doing great.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
We are two weeks away from baseball and I literally
can't wait. Although we're way closer because the regular season
opens in just a week in Tokyo when the Dodgers
and Cubs play.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Well let's uh, let's first of all before we kind
of dive into maybe some more national topics outside of Seattle.
You know, we're very two h six Seattle centric, obviously,
on this radio show, and here the Mariners have this
phenomenal pitching staff, and all of us were waiting and
hoping for the team to go out and make a
bunch of moves to strengthen the offense over the off season,
(01:14):
and then nothing, nothing, whatsoever. The most money they spent
on one guy was bringing back Jorge Polonko at seven
point five million dollars. So how would you characterize the
offseason so far for the Mariners?
Speaker 4 (01:28):
Man? I had so many off seasons like this where
we didn't do enough or we thought we didn't do
enough for our offense, and we were pretty proud of
our pitching, and there were some seasons where we thought
we were light on pitching, but our lineup was strong.
The reality is, I can't think of a team other
than the Dodgers in all of baseball that can sit
(01:50):
here today two weeks from opening day and say they've
got their ideal twenty six. And so what you need
is over performance from players from last year, and you
need continued health from your pitching. And that's when you
have the problem that Justin Turner talked about and that
we now see with Kirby being shut down for a
hot second is that having pitching health is super hard,
(02:15):
and when it happens and you don't win, it is
totally deflating. But the next year starts like this next
year is going to start for Seattle, and you can
again hope that you get better offensive production to match
what still should be even with Kirby Hurt a above average,
way above average pitching staff.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
What's your level of optimism for a bounce back from
the Polancos, the Garvers, the Jps, Mitch Hannigher, you know
that crew that's not the middle of your lineup.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
So the way I used to do this is that
I used to have a level of optimism that we
would have over fifty percent of our offense be above
their average at the same time time in the same year.
And so what I mean is that you need to
have in order to win, and when you're not the Dodgers,
(03:08):
in order to win, you have to have a career
year from several players together. And if you're asking is
the talent there, it definitely is. Is it likely that
you will get above average performance from multiple players at
the same time. It only happens for several teams per year.
(03:32):
So the hope is you're one of those teams. And
I went as a team president into every season thinking
this was going to be our year to be above
average from places we didn't expect it. And it worked
once that we won a World Series, and it didn't
work seventeen times when we didn't win a World Series
or even make the playoffs in my career. So the
(03:54):
hope is one thing. The reality is what unfolds over
the next six months.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Well, the word you just use reality has been thrown
around a lot with the word perception by our president
of Baseball Operations. And I don't know David again, David
Sampson with us on the show. I don't know how
much you've been following from your seat the Jerry Depoto
press conferences and every time he goes in front of
(04:20):
a camera, in front of a microphone.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Real good offensive team, he.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Just drives people nuts because he's trying to convince everyone
that they're wrong and it's not landing very well with
the media or the fan base in Seattle. Have you
been following any of that out here and why do
you think he keeps doing that?
Speaker 4 (04:39):
Well? I have, and he's doing it because that's what
we do. That's in the playbook for president of baseball
operations and presidents of teams is you want to fake
it till you make it. And the problem in sports
is that, unlike so many other businesses, every single day,
for one hundred and sixty two days, you are proven
(05:01):
either right or wrong. And so he can keep saying
it all he wants, but at the end of the day,
the record of the Mariners will be what the record
of the Mariners will be. And believe me, I would
stay awake at night dreaming about being right and getting
to sit in front of the media to say, Nana, Nanna,
I was right, you were wrong, and I was able
(05:22):
to do it, as I said one time. So it
doesn't happen very often, but every year I would go
in front of the media and I would say a
lot of the same things. Now, of course, as host
of nothing personal, I poke holes in what people say
to the media who are in the position of Jerry,
because I've been there and I know exactly what he's thinking.
(05:44):
When he closes his eyes at night, he's crossing his
fingers and his toes and he's hoping for the above
average performances all to hit at once.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
I'd love to know, because I need to know why
John Stanton, in his first four years as owner of
this baseball team had a payroll of eleventh, thirteenth, eighth,
and eleventh. I think most Mariner fans would be fully
appreciative of that type of financial commitment. And yet here
we are seven years after that last year I just mentioned,
(06:14):
and he's actually spending more money on less money on
payroll now than he did. Then is this an RSN
issue that he just doesn't have the money or do
you think this is a philosophical shift that he's just
not going to go back to doing.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
That ever Again, Well, listen, we shouldn't ask our team owners,
and this has been a real issue throughout my entire career.
You can't ask owners to lose money, except no one
believes that you're losing money. Everyone believes that these teams
print money on an operational basis, and it really is
(06:47):
not true, but no one cares. No one wants to
hear it because the view is you're a rich man,
you're a billionaire, you own a team that's worth billions
of dollars. I don't care be the Dodgers. The fact
is that the Dodgers are able to do what the
Dodgers are able to do because they have more revenue.
The Mets are able to do what they're willing to
(07:08):
do because they have an owner who is willing to
be irrational and is willing to lose tens of millions
of dollars. But even Steve Cohne came out this offseason
and said, hey, folks, this is not sustainable. This doesn't
make sense what I'm doing, but I'm doing it now.
But man, we better win. And I'll tell you now
(07:30):
if the Mets have another year where they make it
to the LCS but no further, and Steve Cohne looks
at himself and says, what am I doing? His payroll
is going to go down because their revenue can't support
the payroll. So having a payroll that is supported by
your revenue that is important. So the Mariners, to me,
it's not a payroll issue. And this is when I
(07:52):
want to be careful because I'm not impugning Jerry specifically,
but what I am saying is that the Mariners pay
level is such that if they're not winning, then at
some point you say we need different baseball decisions. And
I was in that position where we had to make
(08:13):
changes on the baseball side because at our low payrolls,
we had expectations that may have been irrational. But at
medium payrolls, which is where the Mariners are, they should
have expectations where they've got open windows of competition where
they are in the playoffs, and they were there, and
so the fact is you did make the playoffs, you
(08:35):
just weren't able to do it on a continuing basis,
which is what makes this season so gosh darn important
for the Mariners because if it's another year of underperformance,
then it's another year removed from the success and another
year closer to a closed window of being competitive.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Well, David Samson with US former president of the Marlins,
now with Dan Lemittard Nothing Personal podcast CBSHQ. Find him
on Twitter at David P. Sampson. By the way, on
X check him out there and give him a follow.
So is this like, for lack of a better term,
how much pressure is now squarely on Jerry because he
fired Scott's service a year ago, replaced him with Dan Wilson.
(09:17):
How much does he now move up to the number
one hot seat himself because he already fired.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
A manager listen, let's face it, that's how it goes
down the chain. You start with the pitching coach, hitting coach,
then you move up to the manager, and you move
up to the general manager, then you move up to
the president of baseball operations, and then eventually you move
up to the dawn president. So the owner is never
going to fire himself, and the owner has to blame
(09:42):
somebody when there is losing, and so eventually you run
out of runway. Is Jerry out of runway? I would
say no, because he's survived a lot of underperformance already.
So there is a possibility that Jerry's relationship with Stantons
such that there is an understanding that on field performance
(10:04):
will not be the sole arbiter of his future, and
in that regard, he may not be on the hot seat.
But if there were only results related, I think it
will be hard. If the Mariners lose ninety games this year,
it will be hard for him to survive that.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
David Sampson joining us.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Had the Mariners had a reasonable free agent budget instead
of the fifteen million dollars that they told us that
they have had, which they have spent about half of that,
where would you have liked to see them go realistically
in free agency.
Speaker 4 (10:34):
Well, I must tell you that whole business of giving
what a free agent budget is, I always found that
to be total horse hockey because you never know what
you're going to be able to spend what you get
from your owner. And CFO is an overall payroll. And
whether you do it through trade by taking on money,
whether you do it through free agency, you build a
(10:56):
team according to the payroll that you're given by the owner.
It doesn't go the other way where you just do
a bunch of signings and then say to the owner, well,
here's where our payroll is. So I never really focused
on it that, oh, they didn't spend enough money in
free agency, or they didn't spend enough in their arbitration
eligible players. I look at the overall payroll and so
(11:18):
for me, if you have more money to spend, where
I always would spend it is pitching, because pitching depth
is what's going to help you because again, he's got
the offense right now that if they perform at the
same time above average, it's good enough to get them
to October because of how great the pitching staff is.
(11:41):
So I would want more depths and It's not a
coincidence that the Dodgers spend a lot of money putting
together a ten member starting pitching staff, literally because you
need that sort of depth because the type of health
that Seattle enjoyed. And I don't have the stat in
front of me, Guys, how many starters actually started for
(12:02):
the Mariners last year?
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Six or seven.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Hancock was the one guy that got some real time
because Brian Wi.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
Got yes, and then Jonathan Diaz spots started like three times.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
That was it. It was basically five and a half guys, Dave.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
So just keep in mind that that is the dream,
but it is not the reality. Almost ever, we always
went into spring training saying, we need a depth chart
of fourteen men who can start a game at the
big leagues. You have five on your staff, and we
(12:37):
need two or three in the bullpen that can be
moved up into the starting rotation, and then we need
about six between triple A and double A who we
can bring up during the course of the year to
cover for injury and lack of performance. When you can
go through a season with five, six or seven guys,
it is just bad luck that the Mariners didn't win
(12:58):
ninety five games last year, and it's because the offense
did not play above average and it happened to me.
It stinks, but it's a new year. Anything could happen.
But I would take the over. If you're offered a
bet on any market on the number of starting pitchers
Seattle will use this year, it is almost impossible to
(13:22):
believe that it will still be only seven, because that
is a stroke of luck that is very hard to find.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Well, why do you think we were so pissed off
about last year?
Speaker 2 (13:30):
I whan you got this dream scenario, this unbelievable rotation,
and you missed the freaking playoffs because your offense stunk
up the joints.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
So look, we all get it.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
You know, we're waiting for Julio Crawford to bounce back, Garver, Hanneger,
Luke Rayley, we'll see about a Rose Arena whatever. But
at the same time, you might be Robin Peter pay
Paul because as you said, that pitching staff may not
be as functional and healthy as it was a year ago.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
So it really is disappointing.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
But David Samson's with us on the air, and David
got one more for you before you go.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
If I'm not mistaken.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
The curve CBA expires after the twenty twenty sixth season.
Are we heading for any kind of a workstoppage in
your mind down the road the next two years.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
I think it's guaranteed that there will be a lockout
after the twenty twenty six season. I think that you've
seen indications from the commissioner already. I think that you've
seen owners come out. On Tomorrow's Nothing Personal Live at
eight am Eastern, I'm going to talk about what Dick
Montford of the Rockies came out and said today, where
he wants a salary cap and a salary floor. You
(14:32):
have more owners fighting against owners because of the salary
and payroll disparity, and before you can argue with players,
you have to have a united front with owners, and
right now there is not a united front, and so
there's a lot of issues that have to be dealt with.
And I don't see a path to an early extension
(14:53):
where you get labor peace, like in the middle of
the year next year, to avoid any expiration of the CBA.
I think, like last time, it will expire and then
there'll be an immediate lockout by the owners of the players.
But it'll be the off season. So the real question
is do I think there'll be any miss time in
twenty twenty seven, And my answer is I think there
(15:17):
is a real probability there will be because it's still
a year before all of the national media deals expire.
If the new national deals were starting in twenty seven,
then the owners would bend over backwards not to have
any sort of delay. But they're better positioned to get
more money from the media companies with a good CBA
(15:41):
and a healthy league in twenty eight, and if they
have to sacrifice a little in twenty seven, I think
that that is going to be a plan that would
be worthwhile. But of course the goal would be never
to miss any time and only have a lockout in
the off season. But we're going to have to wait to.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
See David before it. Let's go real quick, do the
Mariners make the playoffs? And how many wins wins this division?
Speaker 4 (16:07):
So I have not yet done my preseason predictions, and
I would love to come back with you. I'm doing
it on March twenty sixth on Marking Personal And you
know what I did last year. I don't know if
you remember, but why would you Because you're focused on you,
which you should be. But I picked the Mariners to
win the whole damn time.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
I remember that you told us that. That's right, So it's.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
Your fat that was my World's all my faults, there's
no question. The good news is what I can tell
you breaking news. I am not choosing the Mariners to
win the World Series this year, thank God, which means
you're welcome. It means you've got a chance.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
David do the man, great stuff. Appreciate this well. I'm
David Well of course at David P. Sampson on X
on Twitter. Great stuff, buddy, thank you for doing this
and we'll talk soon.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Thanks my pleasure.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
Have a great day.
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