April 9, 2025 • 19 mins
Legendary writer Larry Stone joins Dave Softy Mahler and Hugh Millen to talk about the huge Mariners comeback win today, Julio Rodriguez coming up by doubling in the ninth, the pitching stats so far, the continued concerns with the team, and Emerson Hancock.
Mark as Played
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 Lacy and everywhere in between.
There's a Ram there you now with Softy and Dick,
here's Larry Stone.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
All right, boys and girls, we are back at the
Jimmy's on First across the street from Tmobile Park. Big
thanks to the RAM for sponsoring the shindig every single week.
And thank God for the miracle of Zoom. By the way,
because our phone lines are not working, so Larry Stone
does have the Internet and he is capable of logging
onto the web and going to a Zoom call. We
got him right now, Larry. First of all, how about
(00:43):
that unbelievable Mariner's down five nothing. They're looking four and
nine in a five game deficit with a series against
the Rangers starting Friday, right in the kisser, and then
Randy A. Rosarina shows up Julio with an two double
to tie it in the ninth inning. Randy gets the
game winning walk win of the year. No doubt, and
(01:03):
it feels like a game the Mariners absolutely had to have.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Yeah, unbelievable.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
I tweeted that it was the unlikeliest Mariner when I
could remember in a long, long time.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
They were just dead and buried. I mean, flash back
to the eighth inning.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
They load the bases with no outs, and then suddenly
the bases are loaded with two outs, and you just
you know it's gonna be another Mariner squandered rally and
then he hits the home run and then they rally
in the ninth. I don't think anyone saw that coming.
I certainly didn't see that coming. I was anticipating how
this show.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Was going to go.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
We were going to talk about the four and nine
Mariners and what were they going to do? Was a
time to clean house and all that. Now suddenly there's
just there's a new perspective on things.
Speaker 5 (01:49):
And a lot of people are driving home and haven't
seen this. But you know, when you look at that
that hack that around Rose Raina put on that ball,
I mean, like all outward signs are he was thinking
nothing but grand salami because he had a high leg
kick and then that fall through, I mean it was
low and inside and he gave that.
Speaker 6 (02:11):
He yanked everything he could that in that fall through.
Speaker 5 (02:14):
I mean, he golfed it and he looked like a
long drive competitor. That guy was really swinging to get
that Grand Slam.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
Absolutely, And then the game winning walk was almost as
impressive the discipline it took. I think he fell behind
zho and two and then or one and two and
then to ride it out and lay off the pitches
that he had to lay off to win the game,
because you know, if they've gone to extra innings, they
haven't fared well in extra innings in San Francisco certainly,
(02:46):
so you know, just to have that rally fall short
would have been.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Would have been frustrating as well.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
But I mean all seven runs were driven in by
a Rose Reina or Julio. Yeah, and when you cup,
when you compare it to what happened last night. As
bad offensive performance as you know any of us have
seen in a while, one for nineteen with runners in
scoring position in nineteen strikeouts. That's why this was so unlikely,
(03:17):
because this team has struggled in those situations all year,
and it didn't seem like this was going to be
the day that they snapped out of it, but they did.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Yeah, well, Larry Stones with us again, Curtsey of the
Ram the Ms win seven to six. They fall behind
five to nothing, get four in the A three and
the ninth and get the victory over Houston. And look,
obviously we'll have to wait and see what this game means. Right,
They got a day off tomorrow and then Texas coming
here for three. They could easily lose two out of
three and lose any momentum they had in this Astro series.
(03:45):
But for Julio Rodriguez himself, right, it's a guy that
was on the air with us a couple of days ago,
Larry actually was yesterday, I'm sorry, and he got a
quote I think it was before the Astros series where
he said, look, despite the record, I think things are
looking up and that were actually playing pretty good baseball,
and there were some people that criticized him for that.
I'm curious about your reaction to what Julio said and
(04:07):
just how big that double could be for him tonight.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
Yeah, you know, I know a lot of people were
upset by that quote. They wanted I think they wanted
him to say how bad they were doing, but I
didn't I think he was just trying to stay positive
and pump the team up. Sometimes you say things just
to say things, and so, you know, I take that
with a grain of salt. But he was really scuffling
(04:33):
since he had that big game in San Francisco, I
think the first game of the series. I think he
was like one for nineteen or something like that, so
desperately needed. He's had two huge hits this year. He
had that home run against Oakland that won the game
two to one, laid home run, and then this one,
which you know pretty much saved the win for them.
(04:57):
So but between that, he hasn't look like the Julio
that everybody wants him to be. Everyone's still waiting for
him to take off and be that that superstar.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
It's still very early in the season.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
Uh, and you know, maybe something like this can propel him.
There's been there's been signs of it and a little
sparks of it, but it just hasn't been consistent yet.
And yet you know, they've they've started posting war now
and he's right up there with a point zero point
five war this early in the season. I think it's
tops on the team among the position players. Other than Polonko.
(05:33):
So he is. You hear people who say they should
send him down and all that, which is just foolhardy.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
But they the same thing we said, Dave going into
the season.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
For them to get to where they need to go,
where they want to go, they need Julio to be
a superstar.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
And we haven't seen it yet, but it's still early.
Speaker 5 (05:55):
Well in the clutch situations, just to you know, to
so that he looks in the mirror and he sees, hey, I'm.
Speaker 6 (06:00):
A clutch player, you know.
Speaker 5 (06:02):
Yeah, But but you know, he we talked, we heard
talk about him in spring training really looking to work
the opposite side and and uh, I know you've admired
hitting for a long time, Larry. That that ball on
an O two, I would say it was an inch
below the strike zone and an inch outside the strike zone.
But he went down on the corner and uh and
(06:25):
punched it opposite you know, down near the right field
line well with a lot of uh, with a lot
of zest and got the double out of it. Just
just talk about your impression of the hitting in that
particular case today.
Speaker 4 (06:37):
Yeah, yeah, you you you nailed it. That's that was
textbook that's that's the way you do it. You don't
try and hit. You know, we've all seen him swing
out of his shoes and fall down into the opposite
batter's box and in those kind of situations.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Uh, he didn't do that there.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
He stayed poised, He stayed within himself, did exactly what
they've been preaching to him. Go go with a pitch
the opposite way. When he does that, and if he
could do that consistently, it's, uh, you know, he's a
different player, and uh so it's it's a it's a
very good sign.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
You know.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
We all the talk going into the season was how
they were going to build on last year and manufacture
runs and go with the pitch and you know, use
to go up the middle and not strike out and
all that, and uh, you know, once the season started,
we really haven't seen much of that. They are doing
better in strikeouts there they ranked tenth in the majors
(07:33):
instead of first, which is a major which and they're
and their second in walks of the major leagues too,
So those are good signs, but we we just haven't
seen them, ah, manufacturing runs and situational hitting and all
that stuff that that this season was supposed to be
all about.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
So when you see Julio having a bat like that,
it's encouraging.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Well, there's a lot of things to be happy about today,
But overall, Larry, there's a lot of concerns, right, And
it's not just about the five and eight record. I mean, whatever,
I can handle five and eight, Okay, it's fine. You
got one hundred and forty nine games left to go.
But the injuries. Man, Ryan Bliss is on the ten
day I l with a left bicep tear. I'm no doctor,
(08:16):
but a left bicep tear sounds like a lot longer
than ten days to me. And obviously Victor Roblest is
going to be out for three months with a fracture
in his shoulder. So I mean, can they just rely
on dominant canzone to come up? Can they rely on
Luke Rayley and Dylan Moore platooning in right field? Or
is it time to maybe call one of the young
(08:36):
guns up from Triple A? How do you handle this
roster now with these injuries?
Speaker 4 (08:40):
If you're Jerry Depoto, yeah, it's a tough one. There's
not much available on the market of JD. Martinez is
still unsigned. But he's DH only at this point in
his career, and it looks like Polonco. In your list
of injuries, you didn't mention Polanco, but it looks like
he can't play defensively consistently. And now it looks like
(09:06):
he can't back right handed. So, uh, you know that's
another costly He's he's the best hitter on the team
right now. You need him, so uh the the problem
with their kids in the miners. The one guy that
I think could be up here soon would be Tyler Locklear,
(09:28):
who is tearing it up in Tacoma so far in
the season. I was kind of surprised they didn't bring
him up instead of can Zone. But you know, Cole
young is, I don't know if he's ready, he would
be a likely guy to bring up. And I don't
know who else, who else really there is. I think
you got to ride with what you got right now.
(09:48):
First base is going to be a problem area. I
think that if if Rowdy Teles does start hitting, you
might have to You might see Locklear come up, and
I don't think I would mind that. Uh, second base,
I think it's going to be uh makeshift situation.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
They just don't have that much else to go to
right now, so that's it's a it's a tough situation
for them, for sure.
Speaker 5 (10:14):
The new Luis Castillo, who I'm calling two point oh,
I'm just calling him two point oh.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (10:21):
He starts today and and then thankfully, obviously the Miners
still won the game. But it does bring into question, uh,
that that he's pitching today because the Mariners were one
and done with Emerson Handcock granted a bad outing, but
it seemed like there had been more to build on
(10:42):
with him. What was your reaction to that move.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
I'm with you on that one.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
I I I'm not second second guessing, and I guess
you're first guessing.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
I'm first.
Speaker 6 (10:54):
I first guessed it.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
It's like your whole office in plan was predicated on
Emerson Hancock being your swing guy, and then when George
got hurt early in spring training, you groomed to be
to be your number starter, number five starter for five
weeks or four weeks, and then one bad outing, you
you cut bait on that. I just don't don't didn't
(11:18):
understand it, and don't understand it. I would have given
him another start because the Luis Castillo f Castillo has
just showed that he's he's he's not the guy that's
gonna that's gonna hold down that number.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Five start starting position.
Speaker 4 (11:35):
And it puts such pressure on your bullpen to have
three outings now from the from the number five starter,
where they've gone uh two thirds of an inning, three
innings and four innings, they're they're the most overworked bullpen
in baseball. I think the stats show so, uh, you know,
Hancock's fifteen days that you had that's required to beat
(11:57):
out in the minors is going to be up soon.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
I would think that he would be back and begin
another shot.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
But he's at least shown that he could give you
five or six pretty good innings that you know, that
one start notwithstanding, and yeah, he got lit up in
that start, but there was also some bad luck in
there that he could have gotten out of that first
inning with a couple of dribblers, a couple of bloopers.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
So I don't know why they did that.
Speaker 4 (12:20):
It set them in motion for some bad things to
happen in the next two times they had to go
to that spot.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Well, Larry's Stone again with us courtesy of the RAM
with us every Wednesday, Mariners came back from five to
nothing down today and they won seven to six. I'm
sure a lot of people that five nothing said they
hell would it, just went and started doing something else
and maybe even missed the comeback. But Randy E. Rose
Arena grand Slam in the eighth movie, or Rodriguez game
tying double the ninth and then a Rose Arena draws
(12:46):
the game winning walk off of a guy and a
braw who would not allowed a Nerd run yet this year,
and they got to in the ninth inning. But Larry,
you mentioned Rowdy toleslre and I don't know how much
longer that experiment is going to last. He's making one
point five million. There's a reason why the guy was
on the free agent market for six months after he
got let go by Pittsburgh. He's hitting fifty as an
(13:06):
Oh fifty, it's only been you know, twelve thirteen games.
But how long is the is the is the patient's string?
You think between the front office and Rowdy Tellez. Oh,
we got Larry, We had Larry let me read him
down there. Okay, I gotta ask the question again. I mean,
(13:28):
it was such a great question. Maybe somebody wants to
hear it again, Larry, do we have you?
Speaker 6 (13:33):
We do not?
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Right now, guys, you do not have Larry. All right,
we've lost Larry. Well, it's just perfect for today because
you know what, this is the price you pay. You
can either have a a functioning telephone, be a functioning
zoom call, or see a Mariner win. I choose see
I will. I will gladly sacrifice you, the phone lines
and the zoom call going down for a Mariner win.
But I think it's to me that Tellez thing is
(13:54):
absolutely a topic that needs to be discussed. How much
longer are they gonna stick with this guy? That again,
there's a reason why nobody wanted him for six months.
There's a reason why they're paying him one point five
million dollars. And I don't think that's lost on me,
by the way here, and I wonder if you agree
the fact that you have a starting first basement on
a team that should be in the playoff conversation, that's
(14:14):
thirty years old, that's making one point five million dollars
if he's a young guy, a on a on a
rookie deal, you know, not yet up for arbitration. I
get it, but this is a thirty year old veteran
who's making barely over a million dollars for a reason,
and is your starting first basement pal.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (14:33):
No, I was making a similar argument with Marquez Valdez Scanley.
You know, I think it was thirty thirty one. And
you know, look, I don't think you just make a decision.
You say, okay, I'm gonna I'm put in concrete whatever
the market has deemed this player. That's it. That's all. No,
that's fooless, But you do, you do take a note
of it, right, like, like, isn't that a little bit alarming?
(14:56):
Like what as a general rule, isn't the default?
Speaker 4 (15:00):
It?
Speaker 5 (15:00):
By and large, the market is reflective of the talent,
right or in the manner you described, if you if
you're if you're out just without a club, and then
you sign you know, at or near the minimum, right, Yes,
that obviously that.
Speaker 6 (15:18):
That makes it.
Speaker 5 (15:19):
Now a guy can overcome that, sure, right, But but
it does it does raise alarms for sure. And then
when you you you watch how he's producing, and there's
not really much at the plate, there's not much in
terms of range at first base. I can't imagine I
haven't done a study on the twenty nine other first baseman.
(15:42):
But come on, Dave, that you gotta be you know
what what is uh? What does ersay say? Bottom quartile?
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Yes, no, he's been terrible, and again, you know you
want to give the guy a little bit of a break.
I guess it's only been twelve games whatever. But this
is a guy again who a lot of eyebrows were
raised when they signed him to be your starting first baseman.
We thought maybe Luke Rayley would be that guy, and
now with the Roblest injury, he's gonna be platooning in
right field. Dhing he could play some first base, But
(16:12):
the infield is a friggin mess, dude. I mean, there's
no doubt. Like Polanco is not an everyday defensive third baseman.
He is a liability defensively at third base. Rowdy Tlayz
is a liability offensively at first base. So you want
to put Polanko at first and bring up a guy
like Williamson to play third, sign someone to play third.
But this is the optics for me, and I don't
know if you guys agree on this or not, the
(16:33):
optics of the corner positions in the infield. Excuse me
the right field position, in the third base spot. Let
me just clarify, the optics are freaking terrible because you've
gone from Taoscar Hernandez, who, by the way, has an
eight ninety one ops right now with the Dodgers and
was kicked ass a year ago in right field, to
Mitch Hanneger, who was so freaking bad you paid him
(16:56):
fifteen million dollars not to play for you, and the
guy that he took his spot has now banged up
for three months. At third base. You got rid of
Gino Suarez, who had thirty bombs and one hundred ribbies
a year ago. It is on pace for sixty eight
home runs right now in Arizona. You let him go,
you didn't want to pay him. Now you got a
guy in Polanco who can't even get the damn ball
across the infield, I mean the right field spot. The
(17:18):
optics of what they had at third base and what
they have now at third and what they had it
right and what they have now at right or a
freaking joke. They look terrible with those decisions they've made,
and most of them were to save their own ass money.
And it pisses me off that we're sitting here talking.
Speaker 5 (17:35):
About this and the best defender you had in the infield, Bliss,
as you said, Okay, we got a torn bicep there.
Speaker 6 (17:42):
You know, JP's got a good glove. What's his range?
Speaker 5 (17:45):
He doesn't have Bliss's range, you know, you know, yeah, yeah,
there's a lot of problems. And then moreover, if there
was I don't there's a lot of ball busting in
the NFL. I assume there's a lot of ball busting
in baseball, least as much because they're around each other.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Right.
Speaker 5 (17:58):
If there was a tub for the sub Mendoza guys,
oh god, okay, you got to go into the sub
Mondoza tub like it's overflowing. The water's overflowing, and you know,
you know, there's no room.
Speaker 6 (18:10):
So so, uh, yeah, it is that.
Speaker 5 (18:13):
Now I do feel bad that, you know, probably some
people just listening and say, wait a minute, aren't we
happy about the win we've been Yeah, and it is
a hell of a win.
Speaker 6 (18:23):
I just thought probable one that yeah.
Speaker 5 (18:27):
Yeah, So so that we kind of migrated to uh uh.
We took the helicopter from you know, one hundred feet
which was today, and and we kind of went up
to about fifteen twenty thousand feet to just kind of
take a look.
Speaker 6 (18:39):
So we've evolved in the discussion.
Speaker 5 (18:41):
But no, David, you're exactly right, you know, and and
those spots, Uh, it doesn't seem like there's any cavalry coming, right,
Like each of you ain't walking through the door.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
No, no, right, Well, the Ben Williamson thing for me,
he hit four seventy and Cactus League. I know you
can't just base it on that, but I think it
might be time to get to kid a shot to
play third base. And we're gonna be at Cheney Stadium
on Friday and he's probably gonna be there, so looking
forward to seeing him.
Speaker 6 (19:06):
All Right, we're gonna break you
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 Lacy and everywhere in between.
There's a Ram there you now with Softy and Dick,
here's Larry Stone.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
All right, boys and girls, we are back at the
Jimmy's on First across the street from Tmobile Park. Big
thanks to the RAM for sponsoring the shindig every single week.
And thank God for the miracle of Zoom. By the way,
because our phone lines are not working, so Larry Stone
does have the Internet and he is capable of logging
onto the web and going to a Zoom call. We
got him right now, Larry. First of all, how about
(00:43):
that unbelievable Mariner's down five nothing. They're looking four and
nine in a five game deficit with a series against
the Rangers starting Friday, right in the kisser, and then
Randy A. Rosarina shows up Julio with an two double
to tie it in the ninth inning. Randy gets the
game winning walk win of the year. No doubt, and
(01:03):
it feels like a game the Mariners absolutely had to have.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Yeah, unbelievable.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
I tweeted that it was the unlikeliest Mariner when I
could remember in a long, long time.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
They were just dead and buried. I mean, flash back
to the eighth inning.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
They load the bases with no outs, and then suddenly
the bases are loaded with two outs, and you just
you know it's gonna be another Mariner squandered rally and
then he hits the home run and then they rally
in the ninth. I don't think anyone saw that coming.
I certainly didn't see that coming. I was anticipating how
this show.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Was going to go.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
We were going to talk about the four and nine
Mariners and what were they going to do? Was a
time to clean house and all that. Now suddenly there's
just there's a new perspective on things.
Speaker 5 (01:49):
And a lot of people are driving home and haven't
seen this. But you know, when you look at that
that hack that around Rose Raina put on that ball,
I mean, like all outward signs are he was thinking
nothing but grand salami because he had a high leg
kick and then that fall through, I mean it was
low and inside and he gave that.
Speaker 6 (02:11):
He yanked everything he could that in that fall through.
Speaker 5 (02:14):
I mean, he golfed it and he looked like a
long drive competitor. That guy was really swinging to get
that Grand Slam.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
Absolutely, And then the game winning walk was almost as
impressive the discipline it took. I think he fell behind
zho and two and then or one and two and
then to ride it out and lay off the pitches
that he had to lay off to win the game,
because you know, if they've gone to extra innings, they
haven't fared well in extra innings in San Francisco certainly,
(02:46):
so you know, just to have that rally fall short
would have been.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Would have been frustrating as well.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
But I mean all seven runs were driven in by
a Rose Reina or Julio. Yeah, and when you cup,
when you compare it to what happened last night. As
bad offensive performance as you know any of us have
seen in a while, one for nineteen with runners in
scoring position in nineteen strikeouts. That's why this was so unlikely,
(03:17):
because this team has struggled in those situations all year,
and it didn't seem like this was going to be
the day that they snapped out of it, but they did.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Yeah, well, Larry Stones with us again, Curtsey of the
Ram the Ms win seven to six. They fall behind
five to nothing, get four in the A three and
the ninth and get the victory over Houston. And look,
obviously we'll have to wait and see what this game means. Right,
They got a day off tomorrow and then Texas coming
here for three. They could easily lose two out of
three and lose any momentum they had in this Astro series.
(03:45):
But for Julio Rodriguez himself, right, it's a guy that
was on the air with us a couple of days ago,
Larry actually was yesterday, I'm sorry, and he got a
quote I think it was before the Astros series where
he said, look, despite the record, I think things are
looking up and that were actually playing pretty good baseball,
and there were some people that criticized him for that.
I'm curious about your reaction to what Julio said and
(04:07):
just how big that double could be for him tonight.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
Yeah, you know, I know a lot of people were
upset by that quote. They wanted I think they wanted
him to say how bad they were doing, but I
didn't I think he was just trying to stay positive
and pump the team up. Sometimes you say things just
to say things, and so, you know, I take that
with a grain of salt. But he was really scuffling
(04:33):
since he had that big game in San Francisco, I
think the first game of the series. I think he
was like one for nineteen or something like that, so
desperately needed. He's had two huge hits this year. He
had that home run against Oakland that won the game
two to one, laid home run, and then this one,
which you know pretty much saved the win for them.
(04:57):
So but between that, he hasn't look like the Julio
that everybody wants him to be. Everyone's still waiting for
him to take off and be that that superstar.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
It's still very early in the season.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
Uh, and you know, maybe something like this can propel him.
There's been there's been signs of it and a little
sparks of it, but it just hasn't been consistent yet.
And yet you know, they've they've started posting war now
and he's right up there with a point zero point
five war this early in the season. I think it's
tops on the team among the position players. Other than Polonko.
(05:33):
So he is. You hear people who say they should
send him down and all that, which is just foolhardy.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
But they the same thing we said, Dave going into
the season.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
For them to get to where they need to go,
where they want to go, they need Julio to be
a superstar.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
And we haven't seen it yet, but it's still early.
Speaker 5 (05:55):
Well in the clutch situations, just to you know, to
so that he looks in the mirror and he sees, hey, I'm.
Speaker 6 (06:00):
A clutch player, you know.
Speaker 5 (06:02):
Yeah, But but you know, he we talked, we heard
talk about him in spring training really looking to work
the opposite side and and uh, I know you've admired
hitting for a long time, Larry. That that ball on
an O two, I would say it was an inch
below the strike zone and an inch outside the strike zone.
But he went down on the corner and uh and
(06:25):
punched it opposite you know, down near the right field
line well with a lot of uh, with a lot
of zest and got the double out of it. Just
just talk about your impression of the hitting in that
particular case today.
Speaker 4 (06:37):
Yeah, yeah, you you you nailed it. That's that was
textbook that's that's the way you do it. You don't
try and hit. You know, we've all seen him swing
out of his shoes and fall down into the opposite
batter's box and in those kind of situations.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Uh, he didn't do that there.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
He stayed poised, He stayed within himself, did exactly what
they've been preaching to him. Go go with a pitch
the opposite way. When he does that, and if he
could do that consistently, it's, uh, you know, he's a
different player, and uh so it's it's a it's a
very good sign.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
You know.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
We all the talk going into the season was how
they were going to build on last year and manufacture
runs and go with the pitch and you know, use
to go up the middle and not strike out and
all that, and uh, you know, once the season started,
we really haven't seen much of that. They are doing
better in strikeouts there they ranked tenth in the majors
(07:33):
instead of first, which is a major which and they're
and their second in walks of the major leagues too,
So those are good signs, but we we just haven't
seen them, ah, manufacturing runs and situational hitting and all
that stuff that that this season was supposed to be
all about.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
So when you see Julio having a bat like that,
it's encouraging.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Well, there's a lot of things to be happy about today,
But overall, Larry, there's a lot of concerns, right, And
it's not just about the five and eight record. I mean, whatever,
I can handle five and eight, Okay, it's fine. You
got one hundred and forty nine games left to go.
But the injuries. Man, Ryan Bliss is on the ten
day I l with a left bicep tear. I'm no doctor,
(08:16):
but a left bicep tear sounds like a lot longer
than ten days to me. And obviously Victor Roblest is
going to be out for three months with a fracture
in his shoulder. So I mean, can they just rely
on dominant canzone to come up? Can they rely on
Luke Rayley and Dylan Moore platooning in right field? Or
is it time to maybe call one of the young
(08:36):
guns up from Triple A? How do you handle this
roster now with these injuries?
Speaker 4 (08:40):
If you're Jerry Depoto, yeah, it's a tough one. There's
not much available on the market of JD. Martinez is
still unsigned. But he's DH only at this point in
his career, and it looks like Polonco. In your list
of injuries, you didn't mention Polanco, but it looks like
he can't play defensively consistently. And now it looks like
(09:06):
he can't back right handed. So, uh, you know that's
another costly He's he's the best hitter on the team
right now. You need him, so uh the the problem
with their kids in the miners. The one guy that
I think could be up here soon would be Tyler Locklear,
(09:28):
who is tearing it up in Tacoma so far in
the season. I was kind of surprised they didn't bring
him up instead of can Zone. But you know, Cole
young is, I don't know if he's ready, he would
be a likely guy to bring up. And I don't
know who else, who else really there is. I think
you got to ride with what you got right now.
(09:48):
First base is going to be a problem area. I
think that if if Rowdy Teles does start hitting, you
might have to You might see Locklear come up, and
I don't think I would mind that. Uh, second base,
I think it's going to be uh makeshift situation.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
They just don't have that much else to go to
right now, so that's it's a it's a tough situation
for them, for sure.
Speaker 5 (10:14):
The new Luis Castillo, who I'm calling two point oh,
I'm just calling him two point oh.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (10:21):
He starts today and and then thankfully, obviously the Miners
still won the game. But it does bring into question, uh,
that that he's pitching today because the Mariners were one
and done with Emerson Handcock granted a bad outing, but
it seemed like there had been more to build on
(10:42):
with him. What was your reaction to that move.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
I'm with you on that one.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
I I I'm not second second guessing, and I guess
you're first guessing.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
I'm first.
Speaker 6 (10:54):
I first guessed it.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
It's like your whole office in plan was predicated on
Emerson Hancock being your swing guy, and then when George
got hurt early in spring training, you groomed to be
to be your number starter, number five starter for five
weeks or four weeks, and then one bad outing, you
you cut bait on that. I just don't don't didn't
(11:18):
understand it, and don't understand it. I would have given
him another start because the Luis Castillo f Castillo has
just showed that he's he's he's not the guy that's
gonna that's gonna hold down that number.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Five start starting position.
Speaker 4 (11:35):
And it puts such pressure on your bullpen to have
three outings now from the from the number five starter,
where they've gone uh two thirds of an inning, three
innings and four innings, they're they're the most overworked bullpen
in baseball. I think the stats show so, uh, you know,
Hancock's fifteen days that you had that's required to beat
(11:57):
out in the minors is going to be up soon.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
I would think that he would be back and begin
another shot.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
But he's at least shown that he could give you
five or six pretty good innings that you know, that
one start notwithstanding, and yeah, he got lit up in
that start, but there was also some bad luck in
there that he could have gotten out of that first
inning with a couple of dribblers, a couple of bloopers.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
So I don't know why they did that.
Speaker 4 (12:20):
It set them in motion for some bad things to
happen in the next two times they had to go
to that spot.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Well, Larry's Stone again with us courtesy of the RAM
with us every Wednesday, Mariners came back from five to
nothing down today and they won seven to six. I'm
sure a lot of people that five nothing said they
hell would it, just went and started doing something else
and maybe even missed the comeback. But Randy E. Rose
Arena grand Slam in the eighth movie, or Rodriguez game
tying double the ninth and then a Rose Arena draws
(12:46):
the game winning walk off of a guy and a
braw who would not allowed a Nerd run yet this year,
and they got to in the ninth inning. But Larry,
you mentioned Rowdy toleslre and I don't know how much
longer that experiment is going to last. He's making one
point five million. There's a reason why the guy was
on the free agent market for six months after he
got let go by Pittsburgh. He's hitting fifty as an
(13:06):
Oh fifty, it's only been you know, twelve thirteen games.
But how long is the is the is the patient's string?
You think between the front office and Rowdy Tellez. Oh,
we got Larry, We had Larry let me read him
down there. Okay, I gotta ask the question again. I mean,
(13:28):
it was such a great question. Maybe somebody wants to
hear it again, Larry, do we have you?
Speaker 6 (13:33):
We do not?
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Right now, guys, you do not have Larry. All right,
we've lost Larry. Well, it's just perfect for today because
you know what, this is the price you pay. You
can either have a a functioning telephone, be a functioning
zoom call, or see a Mariner win. I choose see
I will. I will gladly sacrifice you, the phone lines
and the zoom call going down for a Mariner win.
But I think it's to me that Tellez thing is
(13:54):
absolutely a topic that needs to be discussed. How much
longer are they gonna stick with this guy? That again,
there's a reason why nobody wanted him for six months.
There's a reason why they're paying him one point five
million dollars. And I don't think that's lost on me,
by the way here, and I wonder if you agree
the fact that you have a starting first basement on
a team that should be in the playoff conversation, that's
(14:14):
thirty years old, that's making one point five million dollars
if he's a young guy, a on a on a
rookie deal, you know, not yet up for arbitration. I
get it, but this is a thirty year old veteran
who's making barely over a million dollars for a reason,
and is your starting first basement pal.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (14:33):
No, I was making a similar argument with Marquez Valdez Scanley.
You know, I think it was thirty thirty one. And
you know, look, I don't think you just make a decision.
You say, okay, I'm gonna I'm put in concrete whatever
the market has deemed this player. That's it. That's all. No,
that's fooless, But you do, you do take a note
of it, right, like, like, isn't that a little bit alarming?
(14:56):
Like what as a general rule, isn't the default?
Speaker 4 (15:00):
It?
Speaker 5 (15:00):
By and large, the market is reflective of the talent,
right or in the manner you described, if you if
you're if you're out just without a club, and then
you sign you know, at or near the minimum, right, Yes,
that obviously that.
Speaker 6 (15:18):
That makes it.
Speaker 5 (15:19):
Now a guy can overcome that, sure, right, But but
it does it does raise alarms for sure. And then
when you you you watch how he's producing, and there's
not really much at the plate, there's not much in
terms of range at first base. I can't imagine I
haven't done a study on the twenty nine other first baseman.
(15:42):
But come on, Dave, that you gotta be you know
what what is uh? What does ersay say? Bottom quartile?
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Yes, no, he's been terrible, and again, you know you
want to give the guy a little bit of a break.
I guess it's only been twelve games whatever. But this
is a guy again who a lot of eyebrows were
raised when they signed him to be your starting first baseman.
We thought maybe Luke Rayley would be that guy, and
now with the Roblest injury, he's gonna be platooning in
right field. Dhing he could play some first base, But
(16:12):
the infield is a friggin mess, dude. I mean, there's
no doubt. Like Polanco is not an everyday defensive third baseman.
He is a liability defensively at third base. Rowdy Tlayz
is a liability offensively at first base. So you want
to put Polanko at first and bring up a guy
like Williamson to play third, sign someone to play third.
But this is the optics for me, and I don't
know if you guys agree on this or not, the
(16:33):
optics of the corner positions in the infield. Excuse me
the right field position, in the third base spot. Let
me just clarify, the optics are freaking terrible because you've
gone from Taoscar Hernandez, who, by the way, has an
eight ninety one ops right now with the Dodgers and
was kicked ass a year ago in right field, to
Mitch Hanneger, who was so freaking bad you paid him
(16:56):
fifteen million dollars not to play for you, and the
guy that he took his spot has now banged up
for three months. At third base. You got rid of
Gino Suarez, who had thirty bombs and one hundred ribbies
a year ago. It is on pace for sixty eight
home runs right now in Arizona. You let him go,
you didn't want to pay him. Now you got a
guy in Polanco who can't even get the damn ball
across the infield, I mean the right field spot. The
(17:18):
optics of what they had at third base and what
they have now at third and what they had it
right and what they have now at right or a
freaking joke. They look terrible with those decisions they've made,
and most of them were to save their own ass money.
And it pisses me off that we're sitting here talking.
Speaker 5 (17:35):
About this and the best defender you had in the infield, Bliss,
as you said, Okay, we got a torn bicep there.
Speaker 6 (17:42):
You know, JP's got a good glove. What's his range?
Speaker 5 (17:45):
He doesn't have Bliss's range, you know, you know, yeah, yeah,
there's a lot of problems. And then moreover, if there
was I don't there's a lot of ball busting in
the NFL. I assume there's a lot of ball busting
in baseball, least as much because they're around each other.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Right.
Speaker 5 (17:58):
If there was a tub for the sub Mendoza guys,
oh god, okay, you got to go into the sub
Mondoza tub like it's overflowing. The water's overflowing, and you know,
you know, there's no room.
Speaker 6 (18:10):
So so, uh, yeah, it is that.
Speaker 5 (18:13):
Now I do feel bad that, you know, probably some
people just listening and say, wait a minute, aren't we
happy about the win we've been Yeah, and it is
a hell of a win.
Speaker 6 (18:23):
I just thought probable one that yeah.
Speaker 5 (18:27):
Yeah, So so that we kind of migrated to uh uh.
We took the helicopter from you know, one hundred feet
which was today, and and we kind of went up
to about fifteen twenty thousand feet to just kind of
take a look.
Speaker 6 (18:39):
So we've evolved in the discussion.
Speaker 5 (18:41):
But no, David, you're exactly right, you know, and and
those spots, Uh, it doesn't seem like there's any cavalry coming, right,
Like each of you ain't walking through the door.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
No, no, right, Well, the Ben Williamson thing for me,
he hit four seventy and Cactus League. I know you
can't just base it on that, but I think it
might be time to get to kid a shot to
play third base. And we're gonna be at Cheney Stadium
on Friday and he's probably gonna be there, so looking
forward to seeing him.
Speaker 6 (19:06):
All Right, we're gonna break you
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Ridiculous History
History is beautiful, brutal and, often, ridiculous. Join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown as they dive into some of the weirdest stories from across the span of human civilization in Ridiculous History, a podcast by iHeartRadio.