Larry Stone on Servais Decision, Dipoto Moves, Fenway, M’s Bats

Legendary sports writer Larry Stone joins Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain to talk about Scott Servais’ odd extra inning decision in today’s loss, Jerry Dipoto’s offseason, if he likes baseball at Fenway Park, the Mariners offense trying to improve, and UW football.

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. All big thanks for ourfriends of the RAM for sponsoring this little

(00:23):
shining dig. We're out here inthe war and we could use like a
couple of pints of beer by theway from the RAM to enjoy this warm
well, growler, why not shouldmake it happen. You keep talking about
doing stuff and bringing stuff and nothing'shere. I mean it's actual talk.
I actually don't. It's it's youbringing it up every time. You should
do this. You should do that. Jackson who does the endorsement for the
Ram, Dick vayn Er, DaveScot. I just don't think you can

(00:45):
bring Ram beer inside the vMac arearight there you are. Who's gonna know?
The hell? I got a backpack? You got a backpack? The
hell studio do a studio? LarryStone would like to have a beer.
Went there last night for dinner.Could use a ram beer, a couple
of cocktails after that Mariner Game threetwo loss to Boston, Larry, let
me ask you a question. Whydoesn't Scott's service put Rafael Devers on first

(01:06):
base? Put a force everywhere exceptfor home? His run doesn't matter wide
pitch to the guy when you canwalk him and just put up a situation
where you make it easier to getout of the inning. Yeah, I
don't have the answer to that one, SAFTI. I'm not there to ask
the manager. I'm sure Division theothers will ask him. All I can

(01:27):
think of is he wanted the lefton left matchup. But I mean it's
Rafael Devers and it's Jonathan Diaz.You don't like those chances, even with
the platoon to vantage the way,especially the way Devers has been hitting this
whole series. It's a wonder theygot him out ever. I mean he's
been he looks like he's going toget a hit every time and almost did
so. Yeah, if they ifthe Mariners had scored in the top of

(01:51):
the inning, you don't put thego ahead run on base. But as
you pointed out, the winning runwas already on second, so I would
have been all for creating the forceof it be paid. So there.
I think if you ask one hundredbaseball fans around the country that does your
manager win more games or lose moregames? For you, I think one
hundred out of one hundred would say, well, our manager loses more games
and he wins more games. Sowith that being said, does Scott Service

(02:15):
win more games or does he losemore games? In your wise sage,
non emotional opinion, yeah, Ithink a lot of the criticism is frustration
of him, like, you know, why did he leave that picture in?
Why did he bring that picture in? It? Because the person didn't
perform it was The decisions were sound, it's just in workout. Every manager

(02:38):
is going to have the things thatdon't work out, and they're going to
have hit scratching decisions. But Ido not think that he costs more than
he helps. I mean, amanager's job mostly is creating a culture and
a mood, and I think he'spretty good at that. You know,
in game decisions, it's just they'rejust you make so many of them,

(03:01):
you're gonna leave yourself open to secondguessing. And I know again I repeat,
I think it's a lot of thefrustration with him is because he has
bad choices to make, you know, and there's no way it's gonna turn
out. Well, well, Iagree with that, because he doesn't have
the good players, no doubt.And that's what Dick, that's Dick's point.

(03:23):
You made the point if it wason the off here, he's missing
one third of his starting line upright now. I mean he's he's dealing
with the guys. He's dealing witha shortened deck right now, and then
a bunch of other guys that can'thit in, guys like Mitch Garver.
And people have accurately said that MitchGarver is your backup catcher. So if
you got rid of Mitch Garver,you would have to have somebody else play
that catcher role. I don't knowif there's anybody in the roster who can

(03:45):
play that backup emergency catch a rolefor you. But the idea that when
they got Justin Turner, they shouldhave made him their DH, keep Lockleier
at first and get rid of MitchGarver, does that move make sense in
your mind? Well, I thinkthey tried real hard to get YONDI Diaz
which would have allowed him to dothat. I don't think they think that

(04:05):
Tyler Fackler is ready for that roleright now. I mean he's looked overmatched
much of the time, in myopinion, So I think it's I think
it's to the point where you've gotto bring up a backup catcher. Now.
I'm surprised they didn't go out andget one, and the Red Sox

(04:25):
got Danny Jansen, who would havebeen perfect for this team really, and
then you could limit Garfer to youoccasional DH appearances. But it's just not
worked out. It's the understatement ofthe year. But here we are two
months to go and he's under oneseventy. You know, I think it's
beyond the time now of waiting forhim to get hot or whatever. I

(04:48):
think you just got to limit hisplaying time and maybe limited to the one
started catcher a week to catch GeorgeKirby. Unless you bring up Maybe again
for the third time. I can't. I'm not even sure if he stayed
in the organization or not. Ithink he did when he was DFA the
last time. But you got tofind somebody, I think, because it's

(05:12):
just not happening with Carver and Andthe other thing, guys, is that
he vowed he's signed through next yearat eleven point five million, with a
one million dollar buyout of his optionfor twenty twenty six. So they're not
going to cut loose twelve and ahalf million dollars at this point with a
year a year plus to go.Yeah, they'll just pay the one point.
They'll paid one million a few months, right, you would have magine,

(05:33):
No, that's that's at the endof the next year. That's at
the end of the year. Sowe're stuck. Can I, guys,
I'm sorry to jump in here,Dick. Can I ask you a question.
Did Jerry have a horrible offseason?I think that's fair to say he
did. Yes, you want toexpand on that a little bit, because
everything was done, nothing's worked.Wait, I think he had a good

(05:55):
trade deadline, but but a lotof that was to make up for the
for the deficiencies of the off season. I mean, you look at who
they picked up. Who have theyhit on? Rarely looked good for a
while, but he's very erratic.Polanco is finally hitting. I mean,
you know, if they had thePolanco of the last three weeks, all

(06:17):
season, they'd be in a differentposition. Garver's been a disaster. Arius
was a disaster. I'm forgetting anyperson. Dan Hannaker is probably not major
league caliber right now, but he'sowed a lot of money too for next
year. So yeah, that's theoff season, Larry. Do you like

(06:39):
Fenway Park baseball? I don't knowhow many times over the last two days,
particularly not as much today, whereI'd see a right handed hitter swing
and you'd look up in the skylike it's a pop up and the thing
would end up hitting off the wall. And do you like that kind of
baseball? It's like opposite of themobile park. I do like quirky ballparks.

(07:00):
The one that gets me more isthe Crawford Boxes in Houston where the
Astros that perfected that where they hita pop fly and it just curls its
way into the Crawford Boxes. Drivesmy son crazy. He shows a tantrum
and every time that happens. ButFenway is heavan. When you got a
ballpark that's over one hundred years old, you know it's got such character that

(07:26):
I think you put up with it, and you know you've you've had a
long time to figure out how toplay there. And I've been going on
since the eighteen hundred or in theearly nineteen hundreds, so you know,
I don't I don't mind it.I know you're right though. How many
balls just quanked off that it givesand it takes away. There's a lot
of ball that would be home runsthat get stopped by the monster, and

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then there's a lot of pop upsthat that turn into doubles because it isn't
the monster. So you've got tolearn how to play it. Yeah,
Mariner Zoh, Mitch Garver, andMitch hannigher twenty eight million dollars combined for
next year ten point five player option, which Hanneger will most surely pick up
unless they just find a way tobuy him out somehow. And then Garver
Zoe twelve and a half. Soyeah, i'd say disastrous offseason. You

(08:09):
mentioned the trade deadline. I thinka lot of us like what they did.
But again, when you're in sucha big hole, the idea that
you can dig out of all ofit at the deadline is not going to
happen. Would you make of allthe deadline moves justin Turner a rose arena?
And then two relievers. Yeah,I mean I thought a Rose Arena.

(08:30):
I think the mayors were smart tojump the market. That trade kind
of seemed to spark everything and thenit was, you know, all hell
broke lose. After that, therehad been a long jam and he ended
up. I think he could makethe case that a Rose Raina was the
best hitter that moved at the deadline. You know, he might say Parades
or Chisholm, but certainly he's inthe discussion. He would have liked to

(08:52):
have gotten the the aircraft carrier,but lad seems like they just weren't going
to move on him. And YondiDiaz was would have been another nice pick
up and he wasn't moved either.So uh, you know, they had
all this capital to work with,but they they they kept it. But

(09:13):
you know, I think you wouldhave liked to have seen him use it
to get a bigger bat, butI don't think anyone was that that was
available. And uh, Turner.Just watching Turner the last couple of days,
He's what they need to have neededfor a while. Just a good
professional hitter who knows how to putthe ball in play and go the other
way and all that stuff. Youknow, he couldn't get the run home

(09:35):
late in the game today as arose arena to me to keep playing the
game with when a Rosa Aina poppedout to shollow too shallow outfield to bring
home the runner from third, youknow, that would have won probably would
have won the game for him theway it turned out, and they didn't
get that run in. Uh.But and Jimmy Garcia, Jimmy or Jimmy
Garcia is just what they needed aswell, leverage a leverage arm. So

(10:00):
you know, all things considered,I think they had a very good I'd
give it a B plus or anA minus. But they still have a
lot of the same a lot ofthe same holes. And I think you
got to when you're talking about pickupsthat I think you're going to give Jerry
some credit for Victor Robless too.If you if you were you were told
that your mid season, your pickupwas going to hit three sixty four,

(10:22):
two five twenty in their first thirtythree games, you'd be ecstatic. And
that's what Robless has done for them. He'd been an impact player, uh
and they picked him up off thescrap heat. But there's still a lot
of holes on this team offensively,and it'll be real interesting to see if
they could ride this home and theyget they desperately need Julio back because that

(10:45):
that will change this line up alot too. Well, you get those
three guys, I mean, Roblessbanged up, Julio, banged up,
JP banged up. Look in yourcrystal ball, Larry, and tell me
what September looks like with all threeof those guys back in the lineup,
with Randy a Rose Arena, withJustin Turner? Is this at I mean,
can they be the twentieth best offensein baseball? Because if I think

(11:07):
September, yeah, I mean,if they can be the twentieth best offense
in baseball in September, that's probablyenough to win the division, right,
Yeah, Dick, And I thinkyou thought a glimpse of that. The
five games before today, they'd scoredthirty nine run that's just under eight a
game for those five games. Andyeah, you could say, yeah,

(11:28):
three of them were against the WhiteSox, but they say three, Yeah,
but they did face three. Theydid a lot of the damage against
three very good starting pitchers in Chicago, including Crochet who they hit ut.
So that's right, Dick, that'sright. So I mean that just shows

(11:50):
the potential. But then today showedToday was just like a microcosm of their
whole season. How many times havewe seen this game or they had chance
after chance, couldn't get the runnerhome from third and ended up losing a
tough, well pitched game. Youknow, that's been the story of their
season. So but when you youknow your question, you get all those

(12:11):
guys back, I think it's goingto be better. And as we've said
all season, it just has tobe the lead. Gaff Ridge just has
to be you know, twentieth best, you know, not even leaving the
league g average, but not leagueworse, which is what they had been.
So I think there's there's some there'ssome hope for that with with Polanco

(12:31):
turning things around. With rob Lesshopefully not. This hip thing isn't too
bad. You know, Planco's rightnow, but he had to come out
of the game today, I thinkwith a knee problem. But you know,
he's he looks like he's maybe figuredsome things out. So there's there's
a few more weapons there now andthe two new guys. Hey, if
you were still working, you'd bewriting columns on the Seahawks and Huskies right

(12:54):
now. So since you're not workingand not writing columns on the Seahawks and
Huskies right now, we can askyou about the Seahawks and Huskies right now.
Did you get all that? Bythe way, we were at I
think I got We were at UWyesterday and you know, John Wilner was
on with us yesterday and it waskind of interesting. He thought at Big
ten Media Day that he thought thatJetfish was trying to kind of downplay the

(13:15):
expectations a little bit, and hementioned numerous times at media day yesterday that
this has never been done in collegefootball history. A team that plays for
a national championship and then brings inforty six new players, twenty new staff
members, whatever. So what what? What what does success look like in
year one for Jetfish on Motlke.Yeah, it's so hard to know what

(13:39):
they have there because they're just they'rejust names at this point, you know,
right, the transfers and the recruitsand you know a few holdovers but
not very many, and you don'tknow how the quarterback is going to be
in this system. I think successwould be eight or nine wins, to
be honest, and then set yourselfup to with a with a good recruiting

(14:00):
class, and you know, we'llsee if Fish was back for a second
year, if you get poached byby Florida or something. But you sort
of adjust to the new league,get used to the system, establish the
the core of players that you canmove forward with. You know, I
don't think it's realistic to expect achampionship type season like you had last year.

(14:26):
There's just too much, too muchlost from from last year. But
you know, I think I thinkthere's there seemed to be a lot of
good pieces there, and I'm fascinatedby this season. Really, it's just
so so much unknown. They couldgo. You know, they could win
five games, or they could winten games. You just don't know.
And yeah, last year you knewthe Huskies were going to be very,

(14:50):
very good. This year you justdon't know. Well, nine wins.
I mean, if you're an SECor Big ten team with nine wins,
you're at least in the conversation fora playoffs spot. I mean, you
may not not be getting in,but you're in the in the conversation.
Larry Stone joining us, brought toyou by our friends at the RAM as
far as the Hawks go, Larry, I mean, it seems like most
pundits, both locally and nationally,are kind of in agreement with how talented

(15:13):
this team is. Nobody thinks it'sgreat, nobody thinks it's terrible. Everybody
thinks the talent is pretty good.So you turn to the coaches, You
turn to Mike, you turn toMike McDonald, you turn to Ryan Grubb.
How much of a boost to thatpretty good talent do you think these
two guys will get this team?I think they could get a huge boost.

(15:35):
I'm a big Ryan Grub guy.You know, we all saw what
he did the last couple of yearswith us. He's I think he's I
think he's a really innovative offensive mind. And he's got the He's got some
pieces too. I think you knowthat they have receiving corps, they have
the running back corps. I thinkGino is is perfectly adequate and maybe could

(15:58):
be u improved upon by by Gruband the and the scheme. I think
the I think the offense has potentialif they can iron out the offensive line,
which is obviously the key, andthen you've got McDonald, who's the
defensive savant, or at least that'show he's been portrayed. And he's got

(16:18):
some pieces to work with too.I think, uh, that's an area
where maybe the coaching was subpar thelast couple of years. Uh. And
with the defensive coordinator, you know, it's Pete's Bailey Wick, but it
just doesn't it didn't seem like thedefense was was was schemed up very well
for the last couple of years.So I think that'll change. So I

(16:41):
have some pretty pretty high hopes takinga shot at Pete Carroll the way out
the door more like, more likethe more like the coordinator, Oh,
it's his defense. Why do yougo over to Pete Saws and just kick
him in the head while you're atit? Forgot? Guy's trying to enjoy
retirement. He's just like, ifyou choose your retirement, he didn't choose

(17:02):
to be retired. I'm kidding kindof. All right, man, listen,
great stuff and enjoy the rest ofthis beautiful day. And we're talking
a week all right, Thanks Gay. All right, Larry Stone with us
on the radio show. Jackson hassecured the Scott Service postgame conversation. Did
anybody ask him Jackson can you tellus, did anybody bring up why he

(17:22):
didn't walk Devers? We will findout. I am working, Jackson Felt.
Yep, that's a professional tease rightnow, Jackson, I'm intrigued now
to I wasn't gonna listen. Iwas going to go home and check it
out. I will pay attention nextsegment right here on ninety three three kJ
A r f M