March 26, 2025 • 19 mins
Legendary writer Larry Stone joins Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain to share his best Kingdome memories, the vibes around the Seattle Mariners right now entering the ‘25 season, the offensive concerns and Luke Raley’s comments, plus Cal Raleigh’s deal.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's time for our weekly conversation with legendary sports writer
Larry Stone, brought to you by the Ram Restaurant and Brewery, Bigger,
better and fresher since nineteen seventy one, with eight fugit
Sound locations from Marysville to Lacey and everywhere in between.
There's a RAM near you.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Now with Softy and Dick, here's Larry Stone. I gotta
be honest with you.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
I think that if we're gonna do this every week,
then the visit from the Ram with Larry Stone should
come with food from the Ram. I mean the smoke
chadar honey, bacon burger, the wagu pounder. What's that turkey
sandwich Dick that I love so much down there? Oh yeah,
the turkey Havardi melt. You've aarredy melted God, I love that.
I mean, like, what are we doing guys? Hello, Well,
(00:42):
those knuckleheads down there? We want food. Jackson wants food.
You want food. I'll say it for you. Unacceptable. Let's go.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
I've made it known. I was actually in a meeting
last week. I made it known that Softy's not happy.
I'm not happy, all right, So you know I'm just
totally like washing my hands of the complaining and I
just put it all on.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Hey, you get my guys to get off there. It
took us his and get some food in this stut
rama going on through May to twelfth.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
Get on down there, four brand new Burghers for a
limited time.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Well here he is. He's back again.
Speaker 5 (01:11):
Baby.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
We have met his gigantic financial demands. Our people met
with his people. They sequestered themselves for weeks at a time,
and they struck a deal to get Larry Stone back
on the ear with us every Wednesday talking some baseball.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Larry, how are you man?
Speaker 5 (01:26):
I'm doing great, But if you're going to be having
food sent to the studio, it's only fair that you
get some sent to my house.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Well no, no, you got to be in studio for
the food. I meant that's a way to get you
in here in person, unless you really want us doing
the show from your house, which I'm not sure how
your wife would feel about that, by the way, but
we're more than happy to come down there and comply. Hey, Larry,
before we get going, give us some thoughts. Twenty five
years ago today, they blew up the Kingdome. Man, I
(01:53):
think we were all there up there on the left
field deck at Safego Field, overlooking the entire implosion. When
you hear the Kingdome, when people talk about the Kingdome,
What are some memories that pop into your head?
Speaker 5 (02:04):
Man, Well, you know, I had one year covering the
Seahawks nineteen ninety six in the in the Kingdom, and
I remember vividly the game where Michael McCrary at the
last second broke through and blocked the field goal, and
then he picked it up and lateral Robert Blackman and
they won the game on the last second. Remember that,
(02:27):
and a lot of baseball games that I covered there.
I didn't cover the ninety five playoffs, but I covered
the ninety seven playoffs there. They didn't have many games.
The one game that stands out is when Mark McGuire
hit the ball about six hundred feet off of Randy.
(02:50):
Remember that one.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Yeah, I didn't realize he had nineteen strikeouts in this game,
but a texture brought that up to us.
Speaker 5 (02:57):
Yeah, nineteen strackouts and lost. Andy wasst And then the
next day I'll never forget this. Randy told all the
writers that he will. He was having an impromptu press
conference and everyone went into this back room in the
Kingdome and Randy was like, very serious and he said
he was accusing McGuire a using a corked bat, and
(03:19):
he said he had the bat. He had the bat,
and he brought this bat out and it had like
a wine cork cape to it.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
That's pretty good. You know, he had a kind of
sense of humor. He didn't strike me as that type
of a guy when he was here.
Speaker 5 (03:35):
No, it was very atypical. They've been teammates at SC apparently,
so they were friendly and uh so, uh you didn't
see that side of Randy Johnson very often, but that
was the That was a good Kingdome memory.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
Well, Larry, the let's just talk about the vibe of
this city going into opening day tomorrow, because I gave
Softy crap on Monday because I was all fired up
about the NCAA tournament or Seahawk news, and you know,
Saftie leads the show on Monday with with Mariner opening
days three days away, and I'm like, wake, who gives
a crap? It's Monday, right, But that's kind of kind
(04:10):
of feel like that's the vibe. What do you think
the feel of the feeling of the city is right
now going into the twenty twenty five Mariner season, well.
Speaker 5 (04:19):
It was it was a purely negative off season. You know,
the vibe all off season was was pretty adamantly anti
Mariner and the poor off season that they'd had, and
they handed it addressed their needs. But then, you know,
I heard Softie and you Dick mentioned this that when
(04:39):
once you get to spring training you can't help but
sort of get that a little bit of positivity. You
start to see the team in action and it's no
longer what they're going to do, you actually see the players.
So uh, I think there's a little bit of of
some momentum. Now. This has been a really good week
for the Mariners. I think they had the streaming app
that they announced, which a lot of people wanted to see.
(05:02):
You know, Hanneger, they bit the bullet on on fifteen
million dollars and I think a lot of people didn't
think they had the stomach for that. But for roster construction,
it's going to help them because I mean, Hanniger was
going to be dead wood on that roster. And then
you have the cal extension, so that it's a pretty
(05:22):
good week going into spring training, I think there's a
little bit more positivity. But you know, they open with
thirteen out of the first sixteen games at home. You
say this every year. I say this every year, but
I don't think it's ever been more true that they
have to get off to a fat start, just so
if they're three and seven after ten games, the negativity
(05:44):
is just going to come flooding back. And you know,
with all those games at home. I don't know if
that's a blessing or a curse with the with the
marine layer and the difficulties hitting at T Mobile in April,
but it is an opportunity to get off to a
good star.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Yeah, I'd rather be on the road, to be honest.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Absolutely, I'd rather flip it have all those games later
in the year or maybe in the summer when the
weather's nicer.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
But I mean, stand just petitioned to do that every year.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Larry Stone with us courtesy of the RAM and Larry
just going back to what Dick was saying about busting
my balls, about talking Marita Baseball on Monday.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
I mean, look, here's the facts.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
You've got maybe the best pitching staff in the American League,
maybe the best pitching staff in baseball. The Dodgers would
certainly argue that the Braves as well, but maybe the
best in the AL, a wide open division, second best
odds to make the playoffs in the AL, according tofangrafts
dot com and Dick fan is bitching at me for
talking baseball three days.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Before the first game of the year. What does that say?
Speaker 3 (06:40):
By the way, Opening Day has not even sold out yet,
they got about three thousand tickets left for tomorrow's game.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
How about Friday? How many tickets available there?
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Friday's a lot more, by the way, So like, what
does that say to you that we have all these
things that should be looked at as positives, yet I'm
getting yelled at for talking baseball three days before.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
The first game.
Speaker 5 (07:00):
Yeah, it's almost like people refuse to believe that this
team could be pretty good. You know, I'll go with
steps further than what you said. They have probably the
best pitching staff in baseball. They have the best catcher
in baseball in my opinion. They have one of the
best closers in baseball in Lunos. They have one of
the best center fielders in baseball in Julio. So, I mean,
(07:20):
what a new Kilus that is to start with. You know,
I think it's hard to know what this team is
going to do because the hitting is so problematic. But
this is a team. When I look at him, I
see a fairly high ceiling. If things go right, I
think they can get into the nineties. And I also
see a high, high floor. I don't see that pitching.
(07:45):
It's hard to see a scenario where they go where
they win seventy five games. More than likely they're going
to be in the safe place they've been for the
last four years in the eighties. And it's how high
they can get in the eighties is going to determine
whether they finally make the playoffs. You know, I see
him as an eighty eight to ninety win team.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Yeah, I think that's that's fair.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
I mean softly in My concern has to do with
the health of the pitching staff, because it could not
have been much better for them last year.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
I mean it really it was.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
Brian wu was banged up, and other than that, I
mean they had a full manti of guys going and
I mean, how can we already have George Kirby hurt?
So like, how can we expect to have the same.
You know, four or five guys making thirty plus starts
this year.
Speaker 5 (08:29):
Yeah, it's a big ask and it's almost certain that
it's not going to happen. That's just so rare that
those guys all stayed healthy last year. That's why it's
good to have an Emerson Hancock, who's not a bad
option at as the fifth starter. I kind of expected
that he'd be traded in the offseason to get a
bat but it's probably a good thing in retrospect that
(08:51):
they didn't. But if they start to have a couple
more injuries, you know, it's going to be trouble. They
got Logan Evans down in the minors, but you know,
he didn't look like he was quite ready in spring training.
So if they have to go beyond for for a
very long time, going down to Tacoma to get an arm,
(09:13):
it's going to be trouble. But maybe the depth of
this staff could allow them to withstand that because they
do have they have five quality starters, so if it
goes down to four quality starters, they're still ahead of
most teams.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Yeah, I mean they're they're they're pitching depth though, don't
you think guys seems to have taken a bit of
a hit in the last couple of years. Remember when
Marko Gonzalez, Emerson Hancock were like number six and number seven,
Chris Flexen was on this baseball team. I mean, Larry, am,
I am, I nuts. But is there pitching depth from
the majors to the miners not what it used to be,
(09:49):
from like one to eight, one to nine.
Speaker 5 (09:52):
Yeah, I think that's that's there. The pitching depth one
to five is better than almost anyone.
Speaker 6 (09:58):
But the quality is phenomenal, no doubt about that, right Yeah, yeah,
But but you're right, the options in Tacoma may not
be as strong as they have been.
Speaker 5 (10:10):
They need they need a couple of their younger players
to to step up if they're needed, like like An
Evans and who they were on the verge of bringing
up last year when they moved him to the bullpen.
They thought he could be a weapon for them down
the stretch, but it didn't happen, right, And but yeah,
(10:31):
I think that's it's a valid, very valid concern.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Larry Stone with us courtesy of the RAM, we're already
going back and forth with a Jeff and banger on
getting some food and studio by the way, So we
may need to get you to come up here, Larry
and break down with us at some point. But Larry
Stone with us on the show, and Larry Luke Raley
was on with us about forty five minutes ago and
we asked him about the skeptics of the Mariner offense.
A lot of people flat out just don't trust this
(10:55):
Mariner offense. Well score enough runs to compliment the pitching staff.
Here's what Rarely told us about forty five minutes ago.
Speaker 7 (11:02):
Just wait and see. I just I think that they
couldn't be more wrong. You know, all those guys that
you mentioned are extremely talented hitters in baseball players, so
you know don year's happened in the sport and it's tough.
Like you can really get into a mental spin and
think coming to a new year, fresh start, it can
(11:22):
change a lot of things.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Couldn't be more wrong, says Luke.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Raley says they're also better prepared than they were a
year ago at this time.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Are you buying what Luke Raley is selling?
Speaker 5 (11:31):
Well, Luke has to say that I think there's skepticism
is very warranted. This team was not a good offensive
team last year despite what Kerry Depoto said in the
off season when he said, we're looking at the wrong
stats and everything. Now you know there's some truth to that,
But for them, I don't see how anyone who watched
(11:52):
the totality of last year could come away with any conclusion.
But there was an offensively challenged team. I mean you
could see the pieces that could change that. You know,
a rose arena and robeblists for a full season, Polanco
healthy Jr. Excuse me, JP makes it makes a comeback.
But those are a lot of things to ask. The
(12:15):
more what if you have in a lineup, the more
problematic it becomes. I will say that everything looks a
lot better if Julio goes back to being dominant Julio
And it's a lot of pressure to put on him,
but that's the position he's in. They absolutely need him
to be a All Star, even MVP caliber player, and
(12:40):
I think he has it in him. And if that happens,
everything else kind of falls in place behind that.
Speaker 4 (12:44):
I think, what's your hunch on any of these infielders
that'll have a good year. I mean, really had a
pretty good year last We had no problem with what
he did, but the rest of the guys. It was
just it was awful. So, like, do you have kind
of a feeling like which one of these guys is
actually going to play a little bit more to the
back of his baseball card than he did last year?
Speaker 5 (13:01):
I do, Dick, and it's or hey, Plonko. You know,
I saw him at spring terrain. I was down in
spring training for for a few days. Uh, watched the
games that were on television. Uh. He just looks like
a different player. And when you have a bad knee,
it affects everything. And I you know, I'm willing to
to to give him the benefit of the doubt on
(13:21):
last year that that was health related problems. And he's
back to you know, he's done some pretty good major
league seasons. Uh. If he comes close to to that,
you know that that boats well for the team. Now, defensively,
I'm not so sure about him at third base and
that and that's a big concern with his team, is
(13:41):
that the infield defense, I think, especially especially in support
of this pitching staff, which induces a lot of ground balls.
I'm a little concerned about that, you know, all the
way around. You know, Rayley is new to to first base. Uh,
Bliss is not shown himself to be a great defensive
(14:02):
second baseman. You know, JP is some of the defensive
metrics don't don't make him look too good. And then
you have Polanco playing a new position, so that's definitely
something to watch it here. But Polanco offensively based off
the spring he has. I'm fairly optimistic.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
All right, So when Polanco's hitting forty eight in May,
you'll come out.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
I mean how much, honestly, like, how long?
Speaker 3 (14:29):
How long do you give guys like Rowdy Telez for example, JP, Crawford,
Horray Polanco. I mean, some guys are making more money
than others, so you give him a little bit of
a break.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
But you know, do you do?
Speaker 3 (14:38):
You say, we're going to give you a month and
a half, couple of months to turn this around. But
before you do what, before you call somebody out, before
you trade for somebody, How much slack does Hora Polanco
get in your mind?
Speaker 5 (14:50):
Well, I think you've got to give anybody a couple
of months in in baseball just because of the the
ups and downs and and the like. Lob will depend
on what a Cole Young is doing in the miners.
If he tears it up at Tacoma. You know, he's
the closest uh that could they that could cause some quick,
quicker changes. I don't think anyone else is on the
(15:15):
verge of being called up. Maybe a Harry Ford, but uh,
he's you know, you have to wonder about his future
now that they've locked up cal Rawley. Uh, this is
a first round pick catcher with behind a guy who's
signed it for the next six years. So that'll be
interesting to see. But you know, yeah, I don't think
(15:36):
you make rash decisions. Uh, at least a couple of months.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
I think it was a steal, don't you. One hundred
five million for Calrai for six years.
Speaker 5 (15:47):
Yeah, it was a great contract, I think for both sides.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
And they just announced it. By the way, Larry, they
just officially announced the deal. The Mariners did.
Speaker 5 (15:57):
Well. I guess it wasn't going to fall through after
everybody reported yesterday it was. It's nice to see it official,
but that was a that was a true win win.
You know. I go back to right at the beginning
of the off season last year when he fired Scott Boris.
I think that was a sign that he wants wants
to stay here and that he wanted to get something done,
(16:20):
and and the fact that they got it done on
the verge of spring training is I mean, see on
the verge of opening days, I think a real positive development.
There's nobody in that clubhouse, there's nobody in the fan
base that doesn't love cal Rawly. So having him walked up,
I think is a great thing.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Well, looking at his contract, and I'm totally with Dick
one thousand percent, this feels like an absolute steal for
the Mariners, and I'm convinced if Scott Boris was his agent.
I mean not that Scott Boris is going to pin
him down and tie him up and you know, not
let him sign the deal, but I would not let
him sign this contract.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
If I were Scott Boris, I'd make him.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Wait at least one more year to maybe get that
number up on the average into the twenty seventeen and
a half million dollars per year guys for cal Rawley
got him Looking right now, that puts some eighty fourth
in baseball on average, eighty fourth and he's only twenty
eight guys he's making seventeen and a half and four
years from now, that's going to be in the hundreds.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
In four years from now, Larry, this feels like a
steal for the Maritors.
Speaker 5 (17:22):
Well, there's always anytime you sign a long term contract,
there's a bit of the team has taking some risks too,
particularly with a catcher who gets beat up and plays
as much as cal that there could be, you know,
a precipitous drop at some point when when the workload
just cat just catches up to him. But there's also
lots of examples of catchers real Muto who's still good
into his thirties and beyond. So yeah, it's it's a
(17:47):
good team friendly deal with a little bit of risk.
But you know, he's still getting one hundred over one
hundred million, so I don't think he's a destitute or
anything like that. But definitely if he kept the same
career arc and went into spring I got on my
brain and went into free agency, he would definitely dwarf
(18:14):
that contract. So he's potentially leaving money on the table
for long term security, which is what you do in
these kind of contracts.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Taiwan Walker is making more than him this year. About that?
All right, Larry, you're the man, great stuff. Appreciate this.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
Fired up to have you back every Wednesday and we're
talking a week man.
Speaker 5 (18:33):
Thanks Larry all right, I really enjoyed it.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
Thank you man, Larry Stone with us on the air.
Big thanks to the RAM for doing this every single Wednesday.
Don't forget burger rama happening right now through. When you said,
what's the date on that? Excuse me, May the twelfth,
May the twelfth, Get on down there, man, the one
in Ken Station, my favorite spot is awesome. Those guys
do a great job, so check them out. Support them,
they support us, You support them. I think the question
(18:57):
about cal Rawley as a catcher and how much longer
he can up behind the plate for one hundred and
thirty games a year is a valid one. But I
want to dive into this contract a little more. I'm
totally with you, Dick. I think they got a This
is a steal and it almost feels like kind of
robbery in some ways from a Mariner perspective. Next on
ninety three three KJRFM,
It's time for our weekly conversation with legendary sports writer
Larry Stone, brought to you by the Ram Restaurant and Brewery, Bigger,
better and fresher since nineteen seventy one, with eight fugit
Sound locations from Marysville to Lacey and everywhere in between.
There's a RAM near you.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Now with Softy and Dick, here's Larry Stone. I gotta
be honest with you.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
I think that if we're gonna do this every week,
then the visit from the Ram with Larry Stone should
come with food from the Ram. I mean the smoke
chadar honey, bacon burger, the wagu pounder. What's that turkey
sandwich Dick that I love so much down there? Oh yeah,
the turkey Havardi melt. You've aarredy melted God, I love that.
I mean, like, what are we doing guys? Hello, Well,
(00:42):
those knuckleheads down there? We want food. Jackson wants food.
You want food. I'll say it for you. Unacceptable. Let's go.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
I've made it known. I was actually in a meeting
last week. I made it known that Softy's not happy.
I'm not happy, all right, So you know I'm just
totally like washing my hands of the complaining and I
just put it all on.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Hey, you get my guys to get off there. It
took us his and get some food in this stut
rama going on through May to twelfth.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
Get on down there, four brand new Burghers for a
limited time.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Well here he is. He's back again.
Speaker 5 (01:11):
Baby.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
We have met his gigantic financial demands. Our people met
with his people. They sequestered themselves for weeks at a time,
and they struck a deal to get Larry Stone back
on the ear with us every Wednesday talking some baseball.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Larry, how are you man?
Speaker 5 (01:26):
I'm doing great, But if you're going to be having
food sent to the studio, it's only fair that you
get some sent to my house.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Well no, no, you got to be in studio for
the food. I meant that's a way to get you
in here in person, unless you really want us doing
the show from your house, which I'm not sure how
your wife would feel about that, by the way, but
we're more than happy to come down there and comply. Hey, Larry,
before we get going, give us some thoughts. Twenty five
years ago today, they blew up the Kingdome. Man, I
(01:53):
think we were all there up there on the left
field deck at Safego Field, overlooking the entire implosion. When
you hear the Kingdome, when people talk about the Kingdome,
What are some memories that pop into your head?
Speaker 5 (02:04):
Man, Well, you know, I had one year covering the
Seahawks nineteen ninety six in the in the Kingdom, and
I remember vividly the game where Michael McCrary at the
last second broke through and blocked the field goal, and
then he picked it up and lateral Robert Blackman and
they won the game on the last second. Remember that,
(02:27):
and a lot of baseball games that I covered there.
I didn't cover the ninety five playoffs, but I covered
the ninety seven playoffs there. They didn't have many games.
The one game that stands out is when Mark McGuire
hit the ball about six hundred feet off of Randy.
(02:50):
Remember that one.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Yeah, I didn't realize he had nineteen strikeouts in this game,
but a texture brought that up to us.
Speaker 5 (02:57):
Yeah, nineteen strackouts and lost. Andy wasst And then the
next day I'll never forget this. Randy told all the
writers that he will. He was having an impromptu press
conference and everyone went into this back room in the
Kingdome and Randy was like, very serious and he said
he was accusing McGuire a using a corked bat, and
(03:19):
he said he had the bat. He had the bat,
and he brought this bat out and it had like
a wine cork cape to it.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
That's pretty good. You know, he had a kind of
sense of humor. He didn't strike me as that type
of a guy when he was here.
Speaker 5 (03:35):
No, it was very atypical. They've been teammates at SC apparently,
so they were friendly and uh so, uh you didn't
see that side of Randy Johnson very often, but that
was the That was a good Kingdome memory.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
Well, Larry, the let's just talk about the vibe of
this city going into opening day tomorrow, because I gave
Softy crap on Monday because I was all fired up
about the NCAA tournament or Seahawk news, and you know,
Saftie leads the show on Monday with with Mariner opening
days three days away, and I'm like, wake, who gives
a crap? It's Monday, right, But that's kind of kind
(04:10):
of feel like that's the vibe. What do you think
the feel of the feeling of the city is right
now going into the twenty twenty five Mariner season, well.
Speaker 5 (04:19):
It was it was a purely negative off season. You know,
the vibe all off season was was pretty adamantly anti
Mariner and the poor off season that they'd had, and
they handed it addressed their needs. But then, you know,
I heard Softie and you Dick mentioned this that when
(04:39):
once you get to spring training you can't help but
sort of get that a little bit of positivity. You
start to see the team in action and it's no
longer what they're going to do, you actually see the players.
So uh, I think there's a little bit of of
some momentum. Now. This has been a really good week
for the Mariners. I think they had the streaming app
that they announced, which a lot of people wanted to see.
(05:02):
You know, Hanneger, they bit the bullet on on fifteen
million dollars and I think a lot of people didn't
think they had the stomach for that. But for roster construction,
it's going to help them because I mean, Hanniger was
going to be dead wood on that roster. And then
you have the cal extension, so that it's a pretty
(05:22):
good week going into spring training, I think there's a
little bit more positivity. But you know, they open with
thirteen out of the first sixteen games at home. You
say this every year. I say this every year, but
I don't think it's ever been more true that they
have to get off to a fat start, just so
if they're three and seven after ten games, the negativity
(05:44):
is just going to come flooding back. And you know,
with all those games at home. I don't know if
that's a blessing or a curse with the with the
marine layer and the difficulties hitting at T Mobile in April,
but it is an opportunity to get off to a
good star.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Yeah, I'd rather be on the road, to be honest.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Absolutely, I'd rather flip it have all those games later
in the year or maybe in the summer when the
weather's nicer.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
But I mean, stand just petitioned to do that every year.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Larry Stone with us courtesy of the RAM and Larry
just going back to what Dick was saying about busting
my balls, about talking Marita Baseball on Monday.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
I mean, look, here's the facts.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
You've got maybe the best pitching staff in the American League,
maybe the best pitching staff in baseball. The Dodgers would
certainly argue that the Braves as well, but maybe the
best in the AL, a wide open division, second best
odds to make the playoffs in the AL, according tofangrafts
dot com and Dick fan is bitching at me for
talking baseball three days.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Before the first game of the year. What does that say?
Speaker 3 (06:40):
By the way, Opening Day has not even sold out yet,
they got about three thousand tickets left for tomorrow's game.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
How about Friday? How many tickets available there?
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Friday's a lot more, by the way, So like, what
does that say to you that we have all these
things that should be looked at as positives, yet I'm
getting yelled at for talking baseball three days before.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
The first game.
Speaker 5 (07:00):
Yeah, it's almost like people refuse to believe that this
team could be pretty good. You know, I'll go with
steps further than what you said. They have probably the
best pitching staff in baseball. They have the best catcher
in baseball in my opinion. They have one of the
best closers in baseball in Lunos. They have one of
the best center fielders in baseball in Julio. So, I mean,
(07:20):
what a new Kilus that is to start with. You know,
I think it's hard to know what this team is
going to do because the hitting is so problematic. But
this is a team. When I look at him, I
see a fairly high ceiling. If things go right, I
think they can get into the nineties. And I also
see a high, high floor. I don't see that pitching.
(07:45):
It's hard to see a scenario where they go where
they win seventy five games. More than likely they're going
to be in the safe place they've been for the
last four years in the eighties. And it's how high
they can get in the eighties is going to determine
whether they finally make the playoffs. You know, I see
him as an eighty eight to ninety win team.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Yeah, I think that's that's fair.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
I mean softly in My concern has to do with
the health of the pitching staff, because it could not
have been much better for them last year.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
I mean it really it was.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
Brian wu was banged up, and other than that, I
mean they had a full manti of guys going and
I mean, how can we already have George Kirby hurt?
So like, how can we expect to have the same.
You know, four or five guys making thirty plus starts
this year.
Speaker 5 (08:29):
Yeah, it's a big ask and it's almost certain that
it's not going to happen. That's just so rare that
those guys all stayed healthy last year. That's why it's
good to have an Emerson Hancock, who's not a bad
option at as the fifth starter. I kind of expected
that he'd be traded in the offseason to get a
bat but it's probably a good thing in retrospect that
(08:51):
they didn't. But if they start to have a couple
more injuries, you know, it's going to be trouble. They
got Logan Evans down in the minors, but you know,
he didn't look like he was quite ready in spring training.
So if they have to go beyond for for a
very long time, going down to Tacoma to get an arm,
(09:13):
it's going to be trouble. But maybe the depth of
this staff could allow them to withstand that because they
do have they have five quality starters, so if it
goes down to four quality starters, they're still ahead of
most teams.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Yeah, I mean they're they're they're pitching depth though, don't
you think guys seems to have taken a bit of
a hit in the last couple of years. Remember when
Marko Gonzalez, Emerson Hancock were like number six and number seven,
Chris Flexen was on this baseball team. I mean, Larry, am,
I am, I nuts. But is there pitching depth from
the majors to the miners not what it used to be,
(09:49):
from like one to eight, one to nine.
Speaker 5 (09:52):
Yeah, I think that's that's there. The pitching depth one
to five is better than almost anyone.
Speaker 6 (09:58):
But the quality is phenomenal, no doubt about that, right Yeah, yeah,
But but you're right, the options in Tacoma may not
be as strong as they have been.
Speaker 5 (10:10):
They need they need a couple of their younger players
to to step up if they're needed, like like An
Evans and who they were on the verge of bringing
up last year when they moved him to the bullpen.
They thought he could be a weapon for them down
the stretch, but it didn't happen, right, And but yeah,
(10:31):
I think that's it's a valid, very valid concern.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Larry Stone with us courtesy of the RAM, we're already
going back and forth with a Jeff and banger on
getting some food and studio by the way, So we
may need to get you to come up here, Larry
and break down with us at some point. But Larry
Stone with us on the show, and Larry Luke Raley
was on with us about forty five minutes ago and
we asked him about the skeptics of the Mariner offense.
A lot of people flat out just don't trust this
(10:55):
Mariner offense. Well score enough runs to compliment the pitching staff.
Here's what Rarely told us about forty five minutes ago.
Speaker 7 (11:02):
Just wait and see. I just I think that they
couldn't be more wrong. You know, all those guys that
you mentioned are extremely talented hitters in baseball players, so
you know don year's happened in the sport and it's tough.
Like you can really get into a mental spin and
think coming to a new year, fresh start, it can
(11:22):
change a lot of things.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Couldn't be more wrong, says Luke.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Raley says they're also better prepared than they were a
year ago at this time.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Are you buying what Luke Raley is selling?
Speaker 5 (11:31):
Well, Luke has to say that I think there's skepticism
is very warranted. This team was not a good offensive
team last year despite what Kerry Depoto said in the
off season when he said, we're looking at the wrong
stats and everything. Now you know there's some truth to that,
But for them, I don't see how anyone who watched
(11:52):
the totality of last year could come away with any conclusion.
But there was an offensively challenged team. I mean you
could see the pieces that could change that. You know,
a rose arena and robeblists for a full season, Polanco
healthy Jr. Excuse me, JP makes it makes a comeback.
But those are a lot of things to ask. The
(12:15):
more what if you have in a lineup, the more
problematic it becomes. I will say that everything looks a
lot better if Julio goes back to being dominant Julio
And it's a lot of pressure to put on him,
but that's the position he's in. They absolutely need him
to be a All Star, even MVP caliber player, and
(12:40):
I think he has it in him. And if that happens,
everything else kind of falls in place behind that.
Speaker 4 (12:44):
I think, what's your hunch on any of these infielders
that'll have a good year. I mean, really had a
pretty good year last We had no problem with what
he did, but the rest of the guys. It was
just it was awful. So, like, do you have kind
of a feeling like which one of these guys is
actually going to play a little bit more to the
back of his baseball card than he did last year?
Speaker 5 (13:01):
I do, Dick, and it's or hey, Plonko. You know,
I saw him at spring terrain. I was down in
spring training for for a few days. Uh, watched the
games that were on television. Uh. He just looks like
a different player. And when you have a bad knee,
it affects everything. And I you know, I'm willing to
to to give him the benefit of the doubt on
(13:21):
last year that that was health related problems. And he's
back to you know, he's done some pretty good major
league seasons. Uh. If he comes close to to that,
you know that that boats well for the team. Now, defensively,
I'm not so sure about him at third base and
that and that's a big concern with his team, is
(13:41):
that the infield defense, I think, especially especially in support
of this pitching staff, which induces a lot of ground balls.
I'm a little concerned about that, you know, all the
way around. You know, Rayley is new to to first base. Uh,
Bliss is not shown himself to be a great defensive
(14:02):
second baseman. You know, JP is some of the defensive
metrics don't don't make him look too good. And then
you have Polanco playing a new position, so that's definitely
something to watch it here. But Polanco offensively based off
the spring he has. I'm fairly optimistic.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
All right, So when Polanco's hitting forty eight in May,
you'll come out.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
I mean how much, honestly, like, how long?
Speaker 3 (14:29):
How long do you give guys like Rowdy Telez for example, JP, Crawford,
Horray Polanco. I mean, some guys are making more money
than others, so you give him a little bit of
a break.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
But you know, do you do?
Speaker 3 (14:38):
You say, we're going to give you a month and
a half, couple of months to turn this around. But
before you do what, before you call somebody out, before
you trade for somebody, How much slack does Hora Polanco
get in your mind?
Speaker 5 (14:50):
Well, I think you've got to give anybody a couple
of months in in baseball just because of the the
ups and downs and and the like. Lob will depend
on what a Cole Young is doing in the miners.
If he tears it up at Tacoma. You know, he's
the closest uh that could they that could cause some quick,
quicker changes. I don't think anyone else is on the
(15:15):
verge of being called up. Maybe a Harry Ford, but uh,
he's you know, you have to wonder about his future
now that they've locked up cal Rawley. Uh, this is
a first round pick catcher with behind a guy who's
signed it for the next six years. So that'll be
interesting to see. But you know, yeah, I don't think
(15:36):
you make rash decisions. Uh, at least a couple of months.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
I think it was a steal, don't you. One hundred
five million for Calrai for six years.
Speaker 5 (15:47):
Yeah, it was a great contract, I think for both sides.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
And they just announced it. By the way, Larry, they
just officially announced the deal. The Mariners did.
Speaker 5 (15:57):
Well. I guess it wasn't going to fall through after
everybody reported yesterday it was. It's nice to see it official,
but that was a that was a true win win.
You know. I go back to right at the beginning
of the off season last year when he fired Scott Boris.
I think that was a sign that he wants wants
to stay here and that he wanted to get something done,
(16:20):
and and the fact that they got it done on
the verge of spring training is I mean, see on
the verge of opening days, I think a real positive development.
There's nobody in that clubhouse, there's nobody in the fan
base that doesn't love cal Rawly. So having him walked up,
I think is a great thing.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Well, looking at his contract, and I'm totally with Dick
one thousand percent, this feels like an absolute steal for
the Mariners, and I'm convinced if Scott Boris was his agent.
I mean not that Scott Boris is going to pin
him down and tie him up and you know, not
let him sign the deal, but I would not let
him sign this contract.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
If I were Scott Boris, I'd make him.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Wait at least one more year to maybe get that
number up on the average into the twenty seventeen and
a half million dollars per year guys for cal Rawley
got him Looking right now, that puts some eighty fourth
in baseball on average, eighty fourth and he's only twenty
eight guys he's making seventeen and a half and four
years from now, that's going to be in the hundreds.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
In four years from now, Larry, this feels like a
steal for the Maritors.
Speaker 5 (17:22):
Well, there's always anytime you sign a long term contract,
there's a bit of the team has taking some risks too,
particularly with a catcher who gets beat up and plays
as much as cal that there could be, you know,
a precipitous drop at some point when when the workload
just cat just catches up to him. But there's also
lots of examples of catchers real Muto who's still good
into his thirties and beyond. So yeah, it's it's a
(17:47):
good team friendly deal with a little bit of risk.
But you know, he's still getting one hundred over one
hundred million, so I don't think he's a destitute or
anything like that. But definitely if he kept the same
career arc and went into spring I got on my
brain and went into free agency, he would definitely dwarf
(18:14):
that contract. So he's potentially leaving money on the table
for long term security, which is what you do in
these kind of contracts.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Taiwan Walker is making more than him this year. About that?
All right, Larry, you're the man, great stuff. Appreciate this.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
Fired up to have you back every Wednesday and we're
talking a week man.
Speaker 5 (18:33):
Thanks Larry all right, I really enjoyed it.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
Thank you man, Larry Stone with us on the air.
Big thanks to the RAM for doing this every single Wednesday.
Don't forget burger rama happening right now through. When you said,
what's the date on that? Excuse me, May the twelfth,
May the twelfth, Get on down there, man, the one
in Ken Station, my favorite spot is awesome. Those guys
do a great job, so check them out. Support them,
they support us, You support them. I think the question
(18:57):
about cal Rawley as a catcher and how much longer
he can up behind the plate for one hundred and
thirty games a year is a valid one. But I
want to dive into this contract a little more. I'm
totally with you, Dick. I think they got a This
is a steal and it almost feels like kind of
robbery in some ways from a Mariner perspective. Next on
ninety three three KJRFM,
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