Larry Stone on M’s Fan Mindsets, Team Spending, Trade Targets

Larry Stone joins Dick Fain and Hugh Millen to talk about the typical mindset of a Mariners’ fan, missing the boat with offseason spending, and Julio Rodriguez.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
It's time for our weekly conversation withlegendary sports writer Larry Stone, brought to
you by the Ram Restaurant and Brewery, Bigger, better and fresher since nineteen
seventy one, with eight Fugit Soundlocations from Marysville to Lacey and everywhere in
between. There's a RAM there younow with Softy and Dick. Here's Larry
Stone. Really excited. We hadLarry on when was it Jackson? A

(00:27):
couple months ago something like that,right after his retirement, and Larry like,
not ten seconds after the segment ended. Softie looked at me. I
looked at him and we both werelike, this has got to happen more
often than once every two months.And so I called my guys at the
RAM and they were pleased. Theywere thrilled to sponsor the segment. So

(00:51):
welcome to your weekly show here onninety three to three KJR. Thanks man,
Yeah, it's great, great todo it. You know, my
sisters are in town visiting and wewanted to go to a lunch today and
we went to the Ram. Whichone? Which one did you go to?
We went to THEA I live onthe East Side. Yeah, it

(01:12):
was it was real good. I'mnot saying that to Curry Favor. It
just happens to be a true story. But I am delighted to be here
weekly with you. Well, wegot a lot to get to, have
a lot to get to on asthe as the sports world turns here on
a weekly basis. But you know, let's just kind of like in in
the business, they say, let'sget an establishing shot, right the TV

(01:34):
news crew, we got to getan establishing shot. So let's get a
Larry Stone establishing shot. Give us, give us kind of your background,
and just kind of a synopsis ofwhat has been a legendary career here in
Seattle and elsewhere. Wow, that'sa big topic. Yeah. I came
out of col where I worked forthe Daily Cow and the student paper,

(02:00):
sent out applications all up and downthe coast and ended up in Yakama,
which is what brought me to theNorthwest, and kept moving around trying to
find, you know, the spotto settle and went to Bellevue, Bealfy
Journal, American Santa Rose a PressDemocrat, San Francisco Examiner, where I
covered the Giants for six years,and then came to Seattle in ninety seven

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and been here ever since. Thensort of settled into a baseball role for
the first well the first year Icovered the Seahawks, but then for the
next fifteen years I was the baseballguy, and then I became a columnist
for the last ten years so andthen hung them up last November. Well,
last November, you had a beautifulpiece just kind of partying in so

(02:44):
many memories, and I recommend anybodytry and find that online. But since
you penned that, kind of giveus a perspective of what what have you
been doing and maybe some thoughts thatyou have about baseball that are top of
mind. Yeah, you I I'vebeen kind of just chilling out, you

(03:05):
know, for I worked for fortyfive years for newspapers with deadlines hanging over
me, and you know, havingto come up with a story idea every
day and you know, all thestress of that, and uh, it's
been nice to be freed from thatkind of clear my brain with I've mentioned
this before on the air, andI think when we talked in November,

(03:28):
but no, actually it hadn't ithadn't happened yet. But that one week
where the Huskies played for the nationaltitle on Monday, Pete was forced out
on Wednesday to bore quit on Thursday, and then uh Fish was hired on
Sunday. And I'm just like goingcrazy, like I gotta be writing this.

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This is you know, this isthe week, the biggest sports week
in the history of Seattle sports.I needed to be part of it.
But then I thought, well,you know, I made that joy to
retire, and so I've been kindof weaning myself from from the need to
check in with everything. But uh, you know, I've really been into

(04:11):
the Mariners season like everybody else,Amazed at the pitching even though I you
know, you knew, you knewthe potential was there, but it's I
think it's even exceeded what we thoughtit could be. But those the the
offense, Uh, it's still afterthe year after year, it's still the
issue can they score enough runs?And right now it's you know, you

(04:34):
can see a scenario where they blowthis this generational pitching staff because they don't
have enough offense. Well, youraised a good point on Twitter a few
days ago where you mentioned that theMariners have one consecutive series against the defending
World Series champions, the defending NationalLeague champions and the team with the best

(04:56):
record in baseball, and then sincethen they followed that up with a road
series win over the hated rival Astro. So I think that's lost kind of.
I think it was a great pointthat you brought up, and I
think that's all lost in this kindof perpetual angst that Mariner fans feel like
we just we can't really embrace thegood, and it's really easy for a

(05:16):
lot of us to embrace the badwhen it comes to this baseball club.
Yeah, and I think that's sortof the mindset of the Mariner fan is
to look for the negative, andthere's just not a belief in this team,
and for good reason. You know, one playoffs appearance since two thousand
and one, never a World Series, had no division titles. You know,

(05:39):
part of that time they were ina four team division and they still
didn't come up with a division title. And then you know, then it
was a five team division and theplayoffs were expanded and still you know,
one time. So there's a naturalreason for skepticism and cynicism, and the
Mariners have provided to them. Butyeah, I was with you. That's

(06:00):
kind of why I tweeted that Iwas kind of tired of people to the
gloom and doom. Right the teamhad kind of turned it around and has
turned it around. It's unfortunate thatthey started off the way they did six
and ten because it just cemented inpeople's mind that this is the team going
nowhere. And you know, therewas all that angst to use your word,

(06:23):
over the off season and the factthat they didn't you know, it
didn't look like you know, theymade some moves and some good moves,
but they didn't really get that killerbat that they needed. And so I
think, I think there's we're justgonna that's just the way it is.
That people are going to be cynicalabout this team. And and yet,

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you know, if they could justget any kind of consistent league average offense,
they could easily win this division andif they get into the postseason.
You know, it's been said manytimes, and I said the same thing
last year that they that they hadthe pitching to They have the perfect pitching
staff for a short season, especiallyif they get Santos back, you know,
Brash. If they had Brash,it would have been even more so.

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But they had the power arms atthe end of the bullpen and the
and the shutdown starting pitching. That'sthat's what gets you through a postseason.
Larry Stone with us. Larry's goingto visit with us once a week,
and Larry to your point about justthe cringe cringing topic of wasting this pitching

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staff. You know, you lookat the payroll. The Manners are sitting
at eighteenth in the league at alittle over one hundred and thirty five million,
one hundred and thirty six million.That's again eighteenth in the league.
You've got the Rangers at sixth inthe league at two twenty three, the
Astros fifth in the league at twothirty six. I mean, we're talking

(07:51):
almost one hundred million dollars more inpayroll from your division rivals. And you
know, how frustrated does a Marinerfan have a right to be when you
consider, as you said, theuh that they've torn this thing down,
they've been saving money and uh andand here you've you've got a hundred million

(08:13):
deficits in your division, and you'vegot an offense that we can just see
it all through the we're gonna belamenting this offensive woes and and and you
look, you say, is itas simple as just spending the money.
What's your thought in along those lines, Well, yeah, I I your
premise is well founded. They especiallywhen uh, there was sort of a

(08:39):
passive understanding and not spoken actually thatyou know, we're when the time is
right, we're going to spend.We're going to go out and and do
it. And if ever the timewas right, it was after they made
the playoffs two years ago. Butyou know, instead they went bargain basement
with the Pollocks and the and theWongs and you know those guys that went

(09:03):
nowhere, and then this offseason sortof the same. I mean, they
made, like I said, theymade some good moves Polanco, you know,
I thought that was that was agood uh deal and Garver and and
Railey. It just hasn't worked outyet. But you would think that a

(09:24):
team that has not tasted the WorldSeries and and everyone could see as the
makings of a potential World Series staffwould aggressively go out and try and address
the one crying need that they haveand not do it, not do it
around the margins by you know,trading trading one guy to clear salary so

(09:48):
you can get another guy, butjust go aggressively after the best guys and
and you know, it wasn't agreat free agent class, but it certainly
was two years ago and there was, and they didn't get anything big out
of that. So yeah, toanswer your first question, I think they
do have reason to be frustrated.Well, and then last year they make
a lateral move at the deadline,you know, taking from their pitching staff

(10:11):
in seawalld and giving to their offense. Now, that may turn out to
be a you know, so far, it's turned out to be a pretty
good move because Josh Rojas looks reallyreally good. Donken Zone's done some good,
good things for Seattle. But thenaysayeric could say, well, yeah,
you know, if you had aPaul Seawald, you might have won
that extra game last year and madethe and made the playoffs. But this
year I just saw already. Imean, we've had a trade with the

(10:33):
Marlins, so we've already had ourfirst big trade and we're only in May.
And Jim Bowden just came out onthe Athletic yesterday and put his like
top three favorite trade partners and hesuggested a Handcock France trade to the Mets
for Pete Alonso and so that wouldcertainly provide a big middle of the bat,

(10:54):
but the middle of the order bat. But the only thing that I
worry about that is do you wanta left handed though bat though, instead
of a right handed bat because righthanded bats usually go to Seattle to die.
Well. I think Pete Alonzo islegit. But the thing that you
have to remember is he's a renta player. He's a free agent this

(11:15):
year and he's not signing in Seattle, and he's probably going back to New
York. So is it worth givingup a potential rotationation? I mean this
is also you know, a hypotheticalpie in the sky stuff anyway, but
just to go with it, wouldyou give up a rotation piece in Hancock,

(11:35):
the future rotation piece or trade chipfor for a guy like Alonso?
And I would do that deal.You know, it's probably never going to
happen, but as he proposed it, I would do it. Now,
Arise, you could, you couldask division and Jude I threw his name

(11:56):
out before that trade was made.We were throwing tossing a round in the
press box, you know who theMariners could get, and I threw a
Rise's name out there. It wasjust traded to the Padres. To me,
he's the kind of guy that wouldbe perfect for that team, a
contact guy who rarely strikes out highaverage. That's what they They have a
crying need for that. And soI got to think that now that the

(12:20):
first deal has been made, thatit shouldn't be long before other deals are
made. And I think they haveto do something to augment their their their
offense, you know, left field. You know, there's lots of lots
of places they could they could theycould use some help. So it'll be
interesting to see and it'll be interestingto see if Hancock is now used as

(12:41):
a trade chip. I I kindof think they want to keep him around.
You know, they do have WUcoming back, probably very soon,
but you know you're going to needa sixth starter. And do you do
you want to Tommy Malone type ofguy or do you want to or do
you want a guy who's shown thathe could succeed up here in the major
like like Hancocks. So I thinkhe's a useful guy even down in the

(13:03):
minor league, because there's going tocome a time we all know that he's
going to be backed up. Ifhe's still in the organization, Larry Stone
with us and Larry I on rareoccasions kind of poke around the spring training
with the Mariners and and I seeyou, and I think you've earned through
your experience in this the silver hairliningyour temples. You know, you know

(13:24):
everybody knows Larry and they're gonna comeup and you've got all the principles that
are that are you're connecting with andyou're watching Julio Rodriguez up close and personal.
If you were to write a columnnow, just kind of an update,
just tell our listeners something that youthink you've learned about Julio that maybe

(13:45):
isn't being discussed, or something thatkind of touches you about the nature of
this kid, and just just kindof a Julio update from a guy that
sees it from your perspective. Well, yeah, it was fun running into
you and spring training a couple oftimes. Yeah. I first saw Julio.
I went down and he was justhe was an eighteen year old prospect

(14:09):
playing in the Arizona Fall League andI happened to be there for a Seahawk
game. So I went down aday early and went to the Arizona Fall
League game and talked to Julio inthe in the dugout there, very low
key, and watched him play agame, and I came away just I
thought I'd seen the next big thingfor the for the Mariners. I couldn't

(14:33):
have been more impressed. He madea great catch, hit a home run,
stole the base. Was, youknow, unbelievable to talk to great
English. You know, so Ihad this guy on my radar from from
very early. The thing I wouldsay to answer your question is I'd say
that he cares and he wants tobe great, and I think he wants

(14:56):
to be great too, so muchthat I think he's starting to He wants
to he wants to come out ofthis this slump so badly that I think
he's starting to press. He's startingto get outside of his game. And
he's five extra base hits. He'sgot one hundred and fifty played appearances in
five extra base This is the guythat came into the season. We were

(15:18):
wondering if this was his MVP breakoutyear, and and you know, he's
still he's still got a war.If you believe in war, it's zero
point six point seven, depending onwhich one ye're looking at. So he's
still he's not a total nothing.He's helping with his base running, he's

(15:39):
helping with his defense, and he'sgonna break out. But I think he
needs to have success to get moresuccess, because I think he needs to
relax and just stop stop chasing pitchesout of the zone, you know,
trying swinging, swinging, for tryingto hit it to Tacoma, you know,
even when he adds two strikes,Just get back into the guy that

(16:03):
we saw last August, which,uh, you know that was unsustainable,
But something close to that is thetype of player that I think he can
be. And I certainly have notwritten off him for this season. I
think he's still going to end upuh having a very productive year. But

(16:23):
this team absolutely desperately needs him tobe Julio Rodriguez because I don't think it
could win with this version of Julio, Uh get where they want to want
where they want to get. He'sso vital. How many times have we
seen him come up in situations whereit's to the point now where you almost

(16:45):
don't want to see him come upwith second and third of the game on
the line because he just hasn't comethrough. But he's gonna I do feel
he's going to start coming through.Well, maybe that's the most optimistic thing
from Aaroner fans they can hang onto. They're four games over five hundred
and julios five extra base hits,So I mean that's that might be what
you can hang on to as Mariand her fans. Larry, it's a

(17:07):
pleasure. It's going to be apleasure on a weekly basis. We thank
you for agreeing to do this,and we thank the RAM for bringing it
to us. Yeah, it's beengreat. I really look forward to it.
Thank you, may Bet, we'lltalk to you next week. That's
our friend, Larry Stone. Hey, treat mom to a special day at
the RAM. All Mother's Day weekendlong, The RAM is offering a beverage

(17:27):
starter in Entre for just twenty fivedollars. How about that. Choose between
an eighteen ounce RAM beer, sixounce wine or non alcoholic beverage, clam
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and then bringing home with an eightounce center cut sirlo in beer, battered
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(17:48):
think the RAM again for bringing usLarry Stone. We got some more football
to chat with Hugh Millen coming uparound the corner right here on ninety three
point three KJRFM