July 15, 2026 • 19 mins
Legendary writer Larry Stone joins Dick Fain to talk about the latest on NBA expansion with new comments yesterday from Adam Silver, the Seahawks sale to Vinod Khosla and his family, the Jody Allen leadership tenure, if Dan Wilson’s job is in jeopardy with the Mariners continued struggles, Dom Canzone’s new everyday spot, and Luke Raley.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Duke of Duke Seafood. Lady, you know that
this hour of Softy and Dick on your home for
the Huskies and Kraken is probably brought to you by
Duke Seafood. Why not make it a Duke's night tonight.
Reserve your table today at Dukeseafood dot com. On Sports
Radio ninety three point three KJARFM.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
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 digit
sound locations from Marysville to Lacy and everywhere in between.
There's a Ram near you now with SOFTI and Dick.
Here's Larry Stone.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Wednesday's Burger Day at the Ram.
Speaker 4 (00:41):
Head on down to your local Ram any of the
eight puget sound locations. Get yourself a burger, get yourself aside,
get yourself a beer. For just sixteen ninety nine.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Did you feel old?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Larry?
Speaker 4 (00:53):
Hearing me mention that the grandson of Cecil Fielder was
traded today.
Speaker 5 (00:58):
My goodness, yeah, well I feel old every time I
get up out of a chair and I take two
minutes to straight my back. Yeah, it's happening more and more, Dick.
I'm starting to see the grandkids of people like that.
I remember when Cecil Fielder was a young player coming
back from Japan and taking the world by storm with
(01:21):
the Tigers when he hit fifty two. I think Homer's
and now now his grandson is Is is in pro ball.
It's it's sobering, Larry.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Anything to move you either way hearing what Adam Silver
had to say about you know, we're not we haven't
called for a vote yet, but you know, did you
feel like it was kicking the can down the road
or since he since he says he's going to stay
with the timeline of this calendar year that it didn't
move you that to be pessimist.
Speaker 5 (01:52):
It moved me a little bit. I mean, the longer
that they kicked the can down the road, as you say,
the more you know, you just hope things don't go awry,
and you know, I'm still pretty confident it's going to happen.
It was eye opening to see that there were other
groups beside the one roof sports group that we assumed
(02:16):
was going to be the one. And I still think
it's going to be the one because if you open
it up to other groups, I mean, they control the arena.
Is another group going to be a tenant and pay
them rent? Or are they going to build their own arena?
It just doesn't kind of make sense. So you know,
it's just until it's a done deal, I think all
(02:37):
of us are going to be uneasy just because we've
seen the rug pulled out from under Seattle so many times.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
Well, I think that Adam Silver has got to put
that face on right. I don't think Adam Silver is
going to come out and say, well, we only have
one ownership group that wants the Seattle SuperSonics. But I
do believe that there's only one legitimate ownership group that
wants the Seattle SuperSonics, and you're one of And what
you stated is is is perfect. What are they gonna
do They they're gonna rent from gates in Holloway. Are
(03:07):
they going to build their own arena and spend eight
and a half billion dollars for a franchise and two
more billion dollars for a second NBA arena in Seattle.
It just that doesn't make any sense at.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
All to me.
Speaker 5 (03:19):
No, then you're getting into Seahawks money. You know, you know,
there was no local group uh in the running for that,
and you know, where's the where is the money going
to come from? It just doesn't it just doesn't make sense.
And this group is so positioned perfectly, it's so well connected.
I just would be shocked if if it was somebody else.
(03:42):
You know, They've still got to resolve the Vegas end
of it. There's two really strong ownership groups vuying for it,
Jerry Colangelo Group and the and the owner of the
of the Knights both wants a team. So that's that
could I mean, that could impact Seattle by driving the
price up I suppose, and then you know, and then
(04:03):
it'll trickle over to Seattle because they'll have to pay
the same price. I don't think there's two different expansion fees.
So if they can extort more money from the Vegas
side of it, then maybe it'll maybe it'll you know,
maybe the Seattle side will have to pony out more
money as well.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
You expertly segued there and didn't even know it. You
talked about the Seahawks sale. I want to ask you
about this, the Seahawks sale, and how concerned are you
when you have a ownership group of a quarter century
that is as successful as the Allens were and now
going to a relative unknown.
Speaker 5 (04:36):
Yeah, it's it's just the unknown part of it that's
got to be a little bit scary, because an owner
can really impact the team in so many ways, and
you just don't know are they going to be hands on,
are they going to be the kind of owner that
stands off to the side and you know, gives them
the money they need but doesn't meddle, or you know
(04:59):
that you got the son Neil in his early thirties,
who apparently is going to be very influential and running
the team. To me, he's kind of the wild card
of the of the whole thing. You know, he just
what we we don't know what, almost nothing about him
except for the bear biography, Uh, you know, where he
(05:20):
went to college and all that sort of thing. So
until we see it in action, I think, Uh, I
think it's it's fair to be leary. But you know,
most of the stuff that I've read and heard, uh
sounds sounds promising, sounds encouraging, But I just don't think
we're gonna know until util time passes and we see
(05:41):
what kind of owners they actually are in reality.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
How do you evaluate the Jody Allen portion of the
stewardship of the Seattle Seahawks.
Speaker 5 (05:52):
I'm very successful, I mean very positively. The it seems
like she sort of continued in the tradition of her
brother in providing the resources and mostly staying out of
the way. She made some tough decisions, you know, with
Pete and Gino and Russell. Those were all tough decisions
(06:16):
and really proved to be right with all of them.
And you have the trophy. That's that's the most The
biggest tribute you could give to an owner is that
they provide the resources for a championship team, and she
did that. So I think it's got to be almost
all positive.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
Larry Stone joining us, brought to you by my friends
at the Ram Restaurant and Brewery. Happy hours going on
right now until six o'clock.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Head on down to the Ram.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
Also, Wednesday is Burger Day and Larry Let's turn to
baseball and Chuck Powell a couple of days ago came
out after that miserable weekend that was kind of sort
of salvaged by an eight to two win on Sunday,
but not really the stretch before that was just absolutely
horrific baseball. And and Chuck came out and said, it's
(07:06):
time I'm making this fire Dan Wilson Day on Sports
Radio ninety three point three KJFM, and I was I
was struck by that because, you know Chuck, I mean,
he's not He's not a knee jerk. I'm just gonna
throw the latest hot take on out on the radio
and see what sticks.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
He's just he's not like that. He's never been like that.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
So when he says something like that, and especially from
somebody that knows baseball as well as he does, that
that stuck with me. Do you have what level of
agreement do you have with mister Powell.
Speaker 5 (07:36):
I'm not quite there yet. I mean, I know a
lot of people are throwing things at the radio and saying,
aren't you watching this team? I am.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
It is bad baseball, There's no question about that.
Speaker 5 (07:51):
Yeah, I mean I understand if it was a knee jerk.
The heat of the moment reaction that was just that
was a horrible, horrible trip. I mean, it was just
sloppy play. You had the you know, base running mistakes
Weston Wilson, you had Coley Young not challenging a strike
three that was clearly outside that there was no reason
(08:11):
not to challenge. You had a picture throwing a pickoff,
moves to an occupied you know, with no fielder there
and getting a bock, and and you know, all the
and beyond just the fielding years, the routine fielding airs
and then a player not hustling after a ball and
drawing the eye or the starting pitcher. So you know,
those are a lot of sloppy things that do reflect
(08:33):
on the manager. But I still come back to the
fact that you know, Cal cal Rawley went into the
All Star Break last year with thirty eight homers and
eighty two RBIs and ops at one point one one,
and this year he's got nine homers and twenty nine RBIs.
He's down, He's down three hundred over three hundred slugging
(08:55):
percentage points over four hundred ops. He's down twenty nine
home and fifty three RBIs. You just, you know, no
team can survive that kind of a drop off from
your star player. And then you have Josh Naylor, who
was counted on to be one of the big bats,
who is slugging less than JP Crawford. Uh, you know,
you just you need your big guys to come through,
(09:20):
and I and Munios was down, Castillo was down for
much of the first half. Uh you know, I I
don't put that on the manager. He's got to he's
got to fix the sloppy play and all that. But uh,
you know, I think the biggest detriment of the Mariners
in the first half was poor play by their star players.
(09:42):
And uh, you know, the patience for Dan is not limitless.
Uh you know, he's gotta he's got to fix what
seems to be uh not a wrist in the clubhouse,
but the EUROSA rain of problem. You know, I'd like
to see him come down a little harder on on
Randy when he clearly lows after ball if he's not healthy,
(10:05):
then he shouldn't be in the All Star Game and
he shouldn't be playing left field. It kind of seems
like he's covering for him, and that's what he does
because he's a player's manager. He's never going to rip
those guys, but have high hope behind the scenes that
he's taking care of that stuff.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
Yeah, I would just ask Dan to control what he
can control. I'm not going to blame him for cal
ralely stinking. But I am going to partially blame him
for a lot of the other things you mentioned because
those are those are sloppiness, and the sloppiness reflects poorly
on the manager. I will say in Dan's defense that
this team and this management group seems to have a
(10:42):
lot of control over what goes on on the baseball field,
and they also have this long term outlet, right They
we got us with the they got us with the
fifty four comment that we but what what is the
basis of the fifty four percent comment is we are
looking long term. We want long sustainability, and sometimes when
(11:04):
you're trying to get long sustainability, you might sacrifice short
term wins for long term sustainability. And I want to
bring up a stat here for you, Larry, and ask
your take on this, Dan Wilson's record at the end
of seasons versus Dan Wilson's record the rest of the
time when you absolutely have to win and you can't
(11:26):
look long term anymore. The month of September, Dan Wilson
sixteen and ten in September of twenty twenty four, seventeen
and eight in September of twenty twenty five, that's thirty
three and eighteen baseball. The rest of the time, Dan
Wilson's barely over five hundred. I'm wondering if there's a
(11:48):
governor on Dan Wilson on how he manages the baseball team.
Until you get to the point where it's like, throw
caution to the win man and just go out and
win today with your pitching decisions, your pinch, running your pinch, hitting,
your your bullpen decisions. It's not a huge sample size
because it's only two Septembers, but they have won a
(12:11):
heck of a lot more down the stretch than they
do it the rest of the season.
Speaker 5 (12:15):
Well, in a way, that's a stat that reflects well
on Dan that he, you know, when when it matters
the most, he gets them playing well. But your I
see the counterpoint to that too, do it the rest
of the year. You know, the first the first time,
he had just gotten the job when the service was fired,
so there was still like the residual bounce that you
get when when a new manager takes over from a
(12:38):
from a guy that maybe was was not particularly well
liked by the players in the clubhouse. So you almost
have to throw that one or at least put an
asterisk by that one too. I think the only real
one was that we could look at his last year
and you know that they were strong down the stretch.
But yeah, you know, at some point you have to
(13:00):
stop looking long term and play to win that day's game.
And you know, I think now they're not in first
place anymore. I think they've reached that point where they
have to sort of concentrate on the winning and not
and not the building.
Speaker 4 (13:16):
And I don't know if they will, because I still
think they feel them like them they can just show
up and for the next three months and win eighty
five games.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
And still win the Vision.
Speaker 4 (13:25):
But I'm wondering if it's going to affect how aggressive
they are at the trade deadline, Larry, and that worries
me a little bit because we've seen Jerry Depoto make
moves that are aligned with how confident he is that
he has a World Series Championship team. And there was
two years where he obviously felt like he had a
World Series contending team, the year that he got Luis Castile,
(13:46):
the year that he got Randy rose Arena, I mean,
and there's obviously a year when he traded away Paul
Sewald for dom Canzone when he felt like, yeah, you know,
it's gonna dip my toe in this trade water.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
But I don't think we're great.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
I'm a little worried now that if if they're two
games over, two games under five hundred and still right
there in the division race at the end of July,
to Jerry de Poddle saying, yeah, I don't know. I
don't think we're I don't think we're a championship caliber
team this year. So I'm not going to do everything
I can and bring that big time right handed bat.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
And is that is that a fair concern?
Speaker 4 (14:21):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (14:21):
I suppose it is. He didn't mention last year too,
when they brought in Naylor and swore, you know, another
another year when I don't remember what their record was
at the trade deadline, but they weren't tearing it up
and they still made two aggressive moves that paid dividends.
I think they they think this is a World Series
(14:41):
caliber team. They said it from the beginning. And my
hunch is that he's going to be aggressive again because
there are there are two obvious needs. That's not always
the case, but this team absolutely needs another bullpen arm
and another uh right handed bat, and you know, then
(15:05):
they have the chips in both on the major league
roster and in the minors to make a deal. So
I'm I'm expecting an impact trade. Maybe maybe that's wrong,
but the POTO is just has been most years very
aggressive at the trade deadline, and and you know, I
think there's a chance. I think I mentioned this last week.
(15:26):
They they have such such numbers in their starting rotation,
I wouldn't be surprised if they dealt from that that
that depth, and you know, particularly a Castillo. You know,
a Lance McCullers was traded today by the Astros and
there were apparently there was a lot of teams that
wanted him. So if teams want him, who has whose
(15:48):
stats are terrible, you'd think that that a lot of
teams would want a proven veteran like Luis Castillo, even
though he's not having his best.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Year last year.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
On July thirty first, they were four and a half
out in the West and a half game out of
the final wildcard spot.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
That's where they were at now.
Speaker 4 (16:04):
I don't remember if the trade deadline was exactly July
thirty first, but we know it's around July thirty first,
this year. I think it's like August third, We've got
a few extra days. It must be a weekend in
there that pushes it back a little bit. But Larry
Stone joining us, brought to you by the Ram Restaurant
and Brewery. Well, our long national nightmare of Rob Refsnyder
appears to be over with Dom Canzone as an everyday player.
(16:24):
It took ref Snyder to the il though, to get
Tom Canzone in the.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Lineup full time.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
Last thirty games for Canzone, Larry three sixteen ten bombs
eighteen RBIs a one eight to two ops. What has
been the difference that you've seen and now we found
an everyday outfielder.
Speaker 5 (16:45):
Yeah, he's legit. I mean I think people forget he
hits three hundred last year in an era when there's
eight players in baseball right now in all of baseball
at the All Star break hitting over three hundred. It
just doesn't happen anymore. And he did it last year.
I think he's a I think he's a legit bat.
And the more I see him against left handers, the
(17:06):
better I like him and think that if he got
a little more exposure to left handers, he could be
an everyday player. Uh, and you know there's knocks on
his defense, but I think it's you could you could
you can get by with him playing every day in
the outfield or you know, if if that's what it
comes down to, he's better as a DH. But at
(17:27):
some point, maybe you want to move when Donovan comes back,
maybe you want to move a Rose Arena to the
full time for thh if he's if he's still around
and and put I'd be fine with putting can Zone
out there every day if you don't get another handed alternative.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
How about Rayley?
Speaker 4 (17:43):
Because I mean, the last time I saw him hit
against the left he got a base knock. Did you
think Rayley could be another Dom Canzone that if you
gave him the option opportunity against both sides, he could hit.
Speaker 5 (17:56):
I'm a little less sold on that. I was looking
at his numbers the other day. You know, he got
off to a torrid start, but I was looking after
his first three or four weeks. He was basically hitting
under two hundred the rest of the season. And if
you look at his defensive metrics, they're not good. He's
not a good defensive outfielder either. I mean, I think
he could be a potential trade ship, and there's a
(18:19):
lot of redundancy there with ken Zone and Railey, so
I wouldn't be I wouldn't be shocked if if there was,
you know, if if he was moved in a trade.
I mean, he's a perfectly fine reserve outfielder, fourth outfielder,
but I don't see him as an everyday player.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
Larry always a pleasure. We'll talk to you next week.
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (18:45):
All right, thanks you bet.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
Larry Stone brought to you by the Ram Restaurant and Brewery.
We're gonna talk a little soccer World Cup style with
our friend Brian Schweitzer, head coach of Seattle Sounders FC,
who was getting ready to take on the hated Portland Bastards.
We'll talk to him next on ninety three point three
k RFM
This is Duke of Duke Seafood. Lady, you know that
this hour of Softy and Dick on your home for
the Huskies and Kraken is probably brought to you by
Duke Seafood. Why not make it a Duke's night tonight.
Reserve your table today at Dukeseafood dot com. On Sports
Radio ninety three point three KJARFM.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
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 digit
sound locations from Marysville to Lacy and everywhere in between.
There's a Ram near you now with SOFTI and Dick.
Here's Larry Stone.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Wednesday's Burger Day at the Ram.
Speaker 4 (00:41):
Head on down to your local Ram any of the
eight puget sound locations. Get yourself a burger, get yourself aside,
get yourself a beer. For just sixteen ninety nine.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Did you feel old?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Larry?
Speaker 4 (00:53):
Hearing me mention that the grandson of Cecil Fielder was
traded today.
Speaker 5 (00:58):
My goodness, yeah, well I feel old every time I
get up out of a chair and I take two
minutes to straight my back. Yeah, it's happening more and more, Dick.
I'm starting to see the grandkids of people like that.
I remember when Cecil Fielder was a young player coming
back from Japan and taking the world by storm with
(01:21):
the Tigers when he hit fifty two. I think Homer's
and now now his grandson is Is is in pro ball.
It's it's sobering, Larry.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Anything to move you either way hearing what Adam Silver
had to say about you know, we're not we haven't
called for a vote yet, but you know, did you
feel like it was kicking the can down the road
or since he since he says he's going to stay
with the timeline of this calendar year that it didn't
move you that to be pessimist.
Speaker 5 (01:52):
It moved me a little bit. I mean, the longer
that they kicked the can down the road, as you say,
the more you know, you just hope things don't go awry,
and you know, I'm still pretty confident it's going to happen.
It was eye opening to see that there were other
groups beside the one roof sports group that we assumed
(02:16):
was going to be the one. And I still think
it's going to be the one because if you open
it up to other groups, I mean, they control the arena.
Is another group going to be a tenant and pay
them rent? Or are they going to build their own arena?
It just doesn't kind of make sense. So you know,
it's just until it's a done deal, I think all
(02:37):
of us are going to be uneasy just because we've
seen the rug pulled out from under Seattle so many times.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
Well, I think that Adam Silver has got to put
that face on right. I don't think Adam Silver is
going to come out and say, well, we only have
one ownership group that wants the Seattle SuperSonics. But I
do believe that there's only one legitimate ownership group that
wants the Seattle SuperSonics, and you're one of And what
you stated is is is perfect. What are they gonna
do They they're gonna rent from gates in Holloway. Are
(03:07):
they going to build their own arena and spend eight
and a half billion dollars for a franchise and two
more billion dollars for a second NBA arena in Seattle.
It just that doesn't make any sense at.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
All to me.
Speaker 5 (03:19):
No, then you're getting into Seahawks money. You know, you know,
there was no local group uh in the running for that,
and you know, where's the where is the money going
to come from? It just doesn't it just doesn't make sense.
And this group is so positioned perfectly, it's so well connected.
I just would be shocked if if it was somebody else.
(03:42):
You know, They've still got to resolve the Vegas end
of it. There's two really strong ownership groups vuying for it,
Jerry Colangelo Group and the and the owner of the
of the Knights both wants a team. So that's that
could I mean, that could impact Seattle by driving the
price up I suppose, and then you know, and then
(04:03):
it'll trickle over to Seattle because they'll have to pay
the same price. I don't think there's two different expansion fees.
So if they can extort more money from the Vegas
side of it, then maybe it'll maybe it'll you know,
maybe the Seattle side will have to pony out more
money as well.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
You expertly segued there and didn't even know it. You
talked about the Seahawks sale. I want to ask you
about this, the Seahawks sale, and how concerned are you
when you have a ownership group of a quarter century
that is as successful as the Allens were and now
going to a relative unknown.
Speaker 5 (04:36):
Yeah, it's it's just the unknown part of it that's
got to be a little bit scary, because an owner
can really impact the team in so many ways, and
you just don't know are they going to be hands on,
are they going to be the kind of owner that
stands off to the side and you know, gives them
the money they need but doesn't meddle, or you know
(04:59):
that you got the son Neil in his early thirties,
who apparently is going to be very influential and running
the team. To me, he's kind of the wild card
of the of the whole thing. You know, he just
what we we don't know what, almost nothing about him
except for the bear biography, Uh, you know, where he
(05:20):
went to college and all that sort of thing. So
until we see it in action, I think, Uh, I
think it's it's fair to be leary. But you know,
most of the stuff that I've read and heard, uh
sounds sounds promising, sounds encouraging, But I just don't think
we're gonna know until util time passes and we see
(05:41):
what kind of owners they actually are in reality.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
How do you evaluate the Jody Allen portion of the
stewardship of the Seattle Seahawks.
Speaker 5 (05:52):
I'm very successful, I mean very positively. The it seems
like she sort of continued in the tradition of her
brother in providing the resources and mostly staying out of
the way. She made some tough decisions, you know, with
Pete and Gino and Russell. Those were all tough decisions
(06:16):
and really proved to be right with all of them.
And you have the trophy. That's that's the most The
biggest tribute you could give to an owner is that
they provide the resources for a championship team, and she
did that. So I think it's got to be almost
all positive.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
Larry Stone joining us, brought to you by my friends
at the Ram Restaurant and Brewery. Happy hours going on
right now until six o'clock.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Head on down to the Ram.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
Also, Wednesday is Burger Day and Larry Let's turn to
baseball and Chuck Powell a couple of days ago came
out after that miserable weekend that was kind of sort
of salvaged by an eight to two win on Sunday,
but not really the stretch before that was just absolutely
horrific baseball. And and Chuck came out and said, it's
(07:06):
time I'm making this fire Dan Wilson Day on Sports
Radio ninety three point three KJFM, and I was I
was struck by that because, you know Chuck, I mean,
he's not He's not a knee jerk. I'm just gonna
throw the latest hot take on out on the radio
and see what sticks.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
He's just he's not like that. He's never been like that.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
So when he says something like that, and especially from
somebody that knows baseball as well as he does, that
that stuck with me. Do you have what level of
agreement do you have with mister Powell.
Speaker 5 (07:36):
I'm not quite there yet. I mean, I know a
lot of people are throwing things at the radio and saying,
aren't you watching this team? I am.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
It is bad baseball, There's no question about that.
Speaker 5 (07:51):
Yeah, I mean I understand if it was a knee jerk.
The heat of the moment reaction that was just that
was a horrible, horrible trip. I mean, it was just
sloppy play. You had the you know, base running mistakes
Weston Wilson, you had Coley Young not challenging a strike
three that was clearly outside that there was no reason
(08:11):
not to challenge. You had a picture throwing a pickoff,
moves to an occupied you know, with no fielder there
and getting a bock, and and you know, all the
and beyond just the fielding years, the routine fielding airs
and then a player not hustling after a ball and
drawing the eye or the starting pitcher. So you know,
those are a lot of sloppy things that do reflect
(08:33):
on the manager. But I still come back to the
fact that you know, Cal cal Rawley went into the
All Star Break last year with thirty eight homers and
eighty two RBIs and ops at one point one one,
and this year he's got nine homers and twenty nine RBIs.
He's down, He's down three hundred over three hundred slugging
(08:55):
percentage points over four hundred ops. He's down twenty nine
home and fifty three RBIs. You just, you know, no
team can survive that kind of a drop off from
your star player. And then you have Josh Naylor, who
was counted on to be one of the big bats,
who is slugging less than JP Crawford. Uh, you know,
you just you need your big guys to come through,
(09:20):
and I and Munios was down, Castillo was down for
much of the first half. Uh you know, I I
don't put that on the manager. He's got to he's
got to fix the sloppy play and all that. But uh,
you know, I think the biggest detriment of the Mariners
in the first half was poor play by their star players.
(09:42):
And uh, you know, the patience for Dan is not limitless.
Uh you know, he's gotta he's got to fix what
seems to be uh not a wrist in the clubhouse,
but the EUROSA rain of problem. You know, I'd like
to see him come down a little harder on on
Randy when he clearly lows after ball if he's not healthy,
(10:05):
then he shouldn't be in the All Star Game and
he shouldn't be playing left field. It kind of seems
like he's covering for him, and that's what he does
because he's a player's manager. He's never going to rip
those guys, but have high hope behind the scenes that
he's taking care of that stuff.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
Yeah, I would just ask Dan to control what he
can control. I'm not going to blame him for cal
ralely stinking. But I am going to partially blame him
for a lot of the other things you mentioned because
those are those are sloppiness, and the sloppiness reflects poorly
on the manager. I will say in Dan's defense that
this team and this management group seems to have a
(10:42):
lot of control over what goes on on the baseball field,
and they also have this long term outlet, right They
we got us with the they got us with the
fifty four comment that we but what what is the
basis of the fifty four percent comment is we are
looking long term. We want long sustainability, and sometimes when
(11:04):
you're trying to get long sustainability, you might sacrifice short
term wins for long term sustainability. And I want to
bring up a stat here for you, Larry, and ask
your take on this, Dan Wilson's record at the end
of seasons versus Dan Wilson's record the rest of the
time when you absolutely have to win and you can't
(11:26):
look long term anymore. The month of September, Dan Wilson
sixteen and ten in September of twenty twenty four, seventeen
and eight in September of twenty twenty five, that's thirty
three and eighteen baseball. The rest of the time, Dan
Wilson's barely over five hundred. I'm wondering if there's a
(11:48):
governor on Dan Wilson on how he manages the baseball team.
Until you get to the point where it's like, throw
caution to the win man and just go out and
win today with your pitching decisions, your pinch, running your pinch, hitting,
your your bullpen decisions. It's not a huge sample size
because it's only two Septembers, but they have won a
(12:11):
heck of a lot more down the stretch than they
do it the rest of the season.
Speaker 5 (12:15):
Well, in a way, that's a stat that reflects well
on Dan that he, you know, when when it matters
the most, he gets them playing well. But your I
see the counterpoint to that too, do it the rest
of the year. You know, the first the first time,
he had just gotten the job when the service was fired,
so there was still like the residual bounce that you
get when when a new manager takes over from a
(12:38):
from a guy that maybe was was not particularly well
liked by the players in the clubhouse. So you almost
have to throw that one or at least put an
asterisk by that one too. I think the only real
one was that we could look at his last year
and you know that they were strong down the stretch.
But yeah, you know, at some point you have to
(13:00):
stop looking long term and play to win that day's game.
And you know, I think now they're not in first
place anymore. I think they've reached that point where they
have to sort of concentrate on the winning and not
and not the building.
Speaker 4 (13:16):
And I don't know if they will, because I still
think they feel them like them they can just show
up and for the next three months and win eighty
five games.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
And still win the Vision.
Speaker 4 (13:25):
But I'm wondering if it's going to affect how aggressive
they are at the trade deadline, Larry, and that worries
me a little bit because we've seen Jerry Depoto make
moves that are aligned with how confident he is that
he has a World Series Championship team. And there was
two years where he obviously felt like he had a
World Series contending team, the year that he got Luis Castile,
(13:46):
the year that he got Randy rose Arena, I mean,
and there's obviously a year when he traded away Paul
Sewald for dom Canzone when he felt like, yeah, you know,
it's gonna dip my toe in this trade water.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
But I don't think we're great.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
I'm a little worried now that if if they're two
games over, two games under five hundred and still right
there in the division race at the end of July,
to Jerry de Poddle saying, yeah, I don't know. I
don't think we're I don't think we're a championship caliber
team this year. So I'm not going to do everything
I can and bring that big time right handed bat.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
And is that is that a fair concern?
Speaker 4 (14:21):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (14:21):
I suppose it is. He didn't mention last year too,
when they brought in Naylor and swore, you know, another
another year when I don't remember what their record was
at the trade deadline, but they weren't tearing it up
and they still made two aggressive moves that paid dividends.
I think they they think this is a World Series
(14:41):
caliber team. They said it from the beginning. And my
hunch is that he's going to be aggressive again because
there are there are two obvious needs. That's not always
the case, but this team absolutely needs another bullpen arm
and another uh right handed bat, and you know, then
(15:05):
they have the chips in both on the major league
roster and in the minors to make a deal. So
I'm I'm expecting an impact trade. Maybe maybe that's wrong,
but the POTO is just has been most years very
aggressive at the trade deadline, and and you know, I
think there's a chance. I think I mentioned this last week.
(15:26):
They they have such such numbers in their starting rotation,
I wouldn't be surprised if they dealt from that that
that depth, and you know, particularly a Castillo. You know,
a Lance McCullers was traded today by the Astros and
there were apparently there was a lot of teams that
wanted him. So if teams want him, who has whose
(15:48):
stats are terrible, you'd think that that a lot of
teams would want a proven veteran like Luis Castillo, even
though he's not having his best.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Year last year.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
On July thirty first, they were four and a half
out in the West and a half game out of
the final wildcard spot.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
That's where they were at now.
Speaker 4 (16:04):
I don't remember if the trade deadline was exactly July
thirty first, but we know it's around July thirty first,
this year. I think it's like August third, We've got
a few extra days. It must be a weekend in
there that pushes it back a little bit. But Larry
Stone joining us, brought to you by the Ram Restaurant
and Brewery. Well, our long national nightmare of Rob Refsnyder
appears to be over with Dom Canzone as an everyday player.
(16:24):
It took ref Snyder to the il though, to get
Tom Canzone in the.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Lineup full time.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
Last thirty games for Canzone, Larry three sixteen ten bombs
eighteen RBIs a one eight to two ops. What has
been the difference that you've seen and now we found
an everyday outfielder.
Speaker 5 (16:45):
Yeah, he's legit. I mean I think people forget he
hits three hundred last year in an era when there's
eight players in baseball right now in all of baseball
at the All Star break hitting over three hundred. It
just doesn't happen anymore. And he did it last year.
I think he's a I think he's a legit bat.
And the more I see him against left handers, the
(17:06):
better I like him and think that if he got
a little more exposure to left handers, he could be
an everyday player. Uh, and you know there's knocks on
his defense, but I think it's you could you could
you can get by with him playing every day in
the outfield or you know, if if that's what it
comes down to, he's better as a DH. But at
(17:27):
some point, maybe you want to move when Donovan comes back,
maybe you want to move a Rose Arena to the
full time for thh if he's if he's still around
and and put I'd be fine with putting can Zone
out there every day if you don't get another handed alternative.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
How about Rayley?
Speaker 4 (17:43):
Because I mean, the last time I saw him hit
against the left he got a base knock. Did you
think Rayley could be another Dom Canzone that if you
gave him the option opportunity against both sides, he could hit.
Speaker 5 (17:56):
I'm a little less sold on that. I was looking
at his numbers the other day. You know, he got
off to a torrid start, but I was looking after
his first three or four weeks. He was basically hitting
under two hundred the rest of the season. And if
you look at his defensive metrics, they're not good. He's
not a good defensive outfielder either. I mean, I think
he could be a potential trade ship, and there's a
(18:19):
lot of redundancy there with ken Zone and Railey, so
I wouldn't be I wouldn't be shocked if if there was,
you know, if if he was moved in a trade.
I mean, he's a perfectly fine reserve outfielder, fourth outfielder,
but I don't see him as an everyday player.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
Larry always a pleasure. We'll talk to you next week.
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (18:45):
All right, thanks you bet.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
Larry Stone brought to you by the Ram Restaurant and Brewery.
We're gonna talk a little soccer World Cup style with
our friend Brian Schweitzer, head coach of Seattle Sounders FC,
who was getting ready to take on the hated Portland Bastards.
We'll talk to him next on ninety three point three
k RFM
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