Episode 117: Concerns With The Mariners Defense & Luis Castillo

[00:00:00] Welcome to episode number 117 of the Marine Layer Podcast.

[00:00:04] We'll have our two Mariners storylines highlighting Louise Castillo and a porous defensive effort so far.

[00:00:10] We'll take a look around baseball with our MLB wrap around and close out the show with Speak Your Mind.

[00:00:16] This show is brought to you by our friends over at Pagotches Pub 85 with the season now getting going.

[00:00:21] And if you need a place to go watch some games, you can head over there.

[00:00:24] If you want to go have a great time with your friends, have some awesome food, great drink specials

[00:00:29] and play some darts, some pool and watch some games.

[00:00:32] You can head over there.

[00:00:33] If you head over during happy hour, you get some great specials.

[00:00:36] Those hours are from 2 to 6 p.m. on Monday through Friday.

[00:00:39] You can get $3 domestic beers, $4 manis and blue moons, $4 Mackinjacks, $4 Wells and $4 house wine.

[00:00:46] You need a place to go watch the game.

[00:00:48] And we know you do this season.

[00:00:49] Head over there to Pagotches Pub 85 in Kirkwood.

[00:00:52] And before we start our show reminder for you guys,

[00:00:55] download our episodes if you're listening to the podcast.

[00:00:58] Leave a five star review.

[00:00:59] You're doing us a big favor if you do.

[00:01:01] If you're watching on YouTube, just take a second to like the video, comment and subscribe.

[00:01:06] And then you can check us out on social media as well where we're always active.

[00:01:09] We're on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube shorts at Marine Layer Pod.

[00:01:14] Let's get it rolling.

[00:01:26] And we will come to this episode of the Marine Layer podcast,

[00:01:30] part of the Just Baseball Podcast Network recording here on Thursday evening, April 4th and off day

[00:01:37] and probably for good reason, Lyle.

[00:01:39] These are my least favorite days of the baseball season.

[00:01:43] When you come off a game where you lose and then you have to stir

[00:01:48] and sit around the next day with nothing to do,

[00:01:51] least favorite days of the entire baseball season.

[00:01:54] Now, if you win, it's not the end of the world.

[00:01:56] You can ride high on a win, but when you lose,

[00:01:58] especially when the Mariners lose the way that they lost on Wednesday,

[00:02:02] worst times of the year where you just have to sit around.

[00:02:05] But they needed the off day like they needed them.

[00:02:07] Maybe you didn't need the off day, but they sure did.

[00:02:10] Well, maybe.

[00:02:12] But can we really say a team needs an off day seven games in yet again?

[00:02:15] I think people are jumping to conclusions way too fast.

[00:02:18] Probably doesn't hurt.

[00:02:22] I guess it doesn't hurt.

[00:02:24] Look, an extra a lot of day for travel is always helpful

[00:02:27] when you have to make a somewhat lengthy road trip,

[00:02:29] which they did. They're going to Milwaukee.

[00:02:31] By the time you're listening to this podcast,

[00:02:33] they'll be in Milwaukee getting set for a brewer's series this weekend.

[00:02:36] But still, like, I'm being selfish here.

[00:02:41] Maybe the players did need an off day.

[00:02:42] I have no idea.

[00:02:43] For me, no, I wanted to flush it and just get to the next game

[00:02:47] so I could forget about the loss on Wednesday.

[00:02:50] Let's get to our two Mariners storylines because we're going to

[00:02:53] highlight a lot of what happened in the two games since we last

[00:02:56] sat down and recorded an episode of this podcast.

[00:02:59] Up first, what's up with Luis Castillo?

[00:03:04] Can it again just be a whole it's early thing?

[00:03:08] I look he has not looked sharp in his two starts to be fair.

[00:03:11] He looked pretty good in his first three innings

[00:03:13] against the Guardians this past week.

[00:03:15] It just got away from him in the fourth inning.

[00:03:17] He's getting hit too hard.

[00:03:18] That's what it is.

[00:03:19] He's not walking guys.

[00:03:21] He still has the strikeout stuff.

[00:03:23] He's just getting hit way too hard.

[00:03:24] Like his sinker has not fared well so far and he's giving up some home runs.

[00:03:29] Now again, let me say this.

[00:03:31] I think Luis Castillo is going to be perfectly fine.

[00:03:34] I think Luis Castillo when it's all said and done,

[00:03:36] probably finished in top 10 in ALCI Young voting.

[00:03:39] But through two starts, yes, he has given up a few hard hit balls

[00:03:43] that have led to home runs.

[00:03:44] I don't think I'm too worried about this.

[00:03:46] I know there's not too much under.

[00:03:48] There are not none of the underlying numbers suggest that something is extremely wrong here.

[00:03:53] His fastball is down a whole mile an hour.

[00:03:55] There you're going to find one thing.

[00:03:57] If the small sample Velo is down,

[00:03:59] that could rise up when the weather warms up and he has a few starts where he's 96-98

[00:04:04] and all of a sudden that 95.5 jumps all the way back up to 96.5 where he was last season.

[00:04:09] That won't be a problem.

[00:04:11] There's another slightly concerning thing where Fan Graphs hasn't been a huge fan of his stuff so far.

[00:04:16] He's only registered overall a 90-stuff plus in all of his pitches combined so far.

[00:04:21] Not a fantastic number though Castillo last year was at a 96 overall

[00:04:25] and still managed to finish pretty high in the SI Young voting.

[00:04:28] So that overall, that's not it.

[00:04:30] I'm shocking Luis Castillo's struggle early to a sample of two things.

[00:04:37] Don't give up home runs, which for every single starter is the number one thing you're trying to prevent.

[00:04:42] Do not give up home runs and Luis Castillo in two starts has given up two home runs.

[00:04:47] If he gives up a home run every single start of the season,

[00:04:50] it's probably not going to have a very good season to be honest. He won't.

[00:04:54] The other one is going to relate to our second storyline,

[00:04:57] which is the defense behind him has been not good.

[00:05:00] It has not helped him out at all.

[00:05:02] It has not got him out of it.

[00:05:04] It has not bailed him out of situations.

[00:05:06] It has not given him confidence on the ball as in play that an out is going to be recorded behind him.

[00:05:10] And the sequencing just kind of often his first two starts as well.

[00:05:14] So like a whole number of things that lead me to really just not be all that worried.

[00:05:20] Like think about this on his expected sats.

[00:05:23] He's given up a 350 batting average so far, 249 expected batting.

[00:05:27] Right? That tells you a lot.

[00:05:29] He's given up a 600 slugging percentage so far and yet his expected slugging against is 372.

[00:05:36] You know, that tells me some balls to probably caught.

[00:05:38] I think that's what that's telling me right there.

[00:05:41] And his ex-fip and his ex-ERA are way lower than what is FIP and ERAR right now.

[00:05:47] One, because this is what happens early on, like not enough of a sample size will lead to basic counting stats like ERA inflating.

[00:05:56] And it shows that yes, there's been some bad luck and we'll save all the talk about the defense for our second segment.

[00:06:01] But for everybody out there that's saying things like, well Castillo is clearly the third best starter now.

[00:06:07] And they're saying it with a very negative connotation.

[00:06:09] They're not saying, oh, this trio of stud arms can be ranked in one way or another.

[00:06:14] They're saying it in a sense of like, oh no, he's taken a massive step back.

[00:06:18] We should be concerned.

[00:06:19] No, you should not be concerned.

[00:06:21] A lot of people think that he's got the most skill he's ever made.

[00:06:24] I think it is because of the first season.

[00:06:27] And so, you know, you're going to find out that he's not going to be ranked in the last 12 weeks, Castillo.

[00:06:31] Like not only does he not usually thrive in the month of April, like April is not usually his month.

[00:06:35] The guy thrives one in warmer weather and two as the season goes on.

[00:06:39] So give him a little bit of time.

[00:06:41] Well, the two is it's been two starts and he was cruising in the second start.

[00:06:44] He had one in and get away from them and things started to kind of spiral.

[00:06:48] You know, I think the command can be a little bit better.

[00:06:50] once you got to that fourth inning.

[00:06:51] But no, like let's chill out guys.

[00:06:53] What do you keep saying about the offense TJ?

[00:06:55] You say, let's start worrying in June.

[00:06:58] Well, let's say with Luis Castillo,

[00:07:00] if he's eight starts into the year

[00:07:02] and every single start has looked

[00:07:03] like how the first two have looked,

[00:07:05] then we can start to have a conversation

[00:07:07] through two outings.

[00:07:09] I'm not doing this.

[00:07:11] And the second home run he gave up to Bo Nailer

[00:07:13] which really kind of didn't help,

[00:07:16] certainly didn't help us start against Cleveland.

[00:07:17] That was not a bad pitch.

[00:07:18] I mean, it was 96 in off the plate

[00:07:20] and Bo Nailer put it in the seats.

[00:07:22] Are we faulting Castillo for that?

[00:07:24] He should have thrown a better pitch.

[00:07:26] It wasn't a strike.

[00:07:28] Yeah.

[00:07:29] It's not like he left 94 middle-middle.

[00:07:32] No, the pitch to Devers,

[00:07:34] you could probably better argument.

[00:07:35] It was still like,

[00:07:37] it's still more of a borderline pitch,

[00:07:39] but that one was more in the strike zone

[00:07:41] and that was up in the hitting zone.

[00:07:42] The one that Bo Nailer was certainly not.

[00:07:45] Like I sequenced it out.

[00:07:47] That Bo Nailer home run came after Mitch Hanna-Gurr error.

[00:07:49] The Mitch Hanna-Gurr error did not directly relate

[00:07:52] to that home run happening,

[00:07:55] but it certainly didn't help the course of the inning.

[00:07:57] And then against Boston, while...

[00:08:03] The other two runs that came across for Luis Castillo

[00:08:06] was Josh Rojas throwing error

[00:08:08] and a poorly positioned Jorge Polanco

[00:08:12] on both other runs.

[00:08:13] And you go, that's Castillo's fault.

[00:08:15] Is it Castillo's fault?

[00:08:16] Those are two balls hit on the infield that should be outs.

[00:08:19] And runs ended up scoring anyways.

[00:08:22] All this to be said,

[00:08:24] if you want a nitpick on Luis Castillo through two outings,

[00:08:27] sure he can give up a couple less home runs

[00:08:30] and he can spot up his pitches a little bit better.

[00:08:32] His command has been a little bit suspect

[00:08:35] through two starts.

[00:08:37] Not like, oh, I have all of a sudden

[00:08:40] like started to develop serious concerns

[00:08:43] and personal worries about Luis Castillo's season.

[00:08:45] No, let me say it again.

[00:08:46] I'm not doing that.

[00:08:47] If you want a nitpick

[00:08:48] where he can get better through two starts, sure,

[00:08:50] but he's gonna be totally fine.

[00:08:53] Again, the expected numbers say that.

[00:08:55] I think we know his track record says that.

[00:08:57] Just give him some time to figure it out.

[00:09:00] You want the ultimate calming stat?

[00:09:02] If he didn't give up either of those two home runs,

[00:09:04] this era would be sub three right now.

[00:09:07] So there you go.

[00:09:09] Yeah, there you go.

[00:09:10] Don't give up home runs, kids.

[00:09:11] They're bad.

[00:09:13] And I'm sure you can use that number

[00:09:15] for a lot of pitchers and say, oh, well,

[00:09:16] if he didn't give up these home runs,

[00:09:18] his era would be X or ZRA would be Y.

[00:09:20] But point being, I think Luis Castillo,

[00:09:24] who is a multi-time all star signed to a big contract

[00:09:28] is the ace of this rotation for a reason

[00:09:30] is not just gonna fall off the face of the earth.

[00:09:32] Like his profile and his track record

[00:09:34] are way too good to do that.

[00:09:36] And I think he's just gonna,

[00:09:37] I think he's gonna turn around here very, very soon.

[00:09:39] So yeah.

[00:09:41] Yeah, I think so too.

[00:09:43] Well, should we get to our second storyline here

[00:09:46] because it does tie into Luis Castillo.

[00:09:48] Again, part of the reason

[00:09:51] some of Luis Castillo's numbers are being inflated

[00:09:54] are a credit to poor defense.

[00:09:56] If you really wanna take something away

[00:09:59] from what's transpired over the last couple games,

[00:10:03] let's look at the defense

[00:10:04] because this Mariners defense,

[00:10:07] especially on the infield,

[00:10:10] it's had its issues so far.

[00:10:13] Just issues?

[00:10:14] No, man.

[00:10:16] How would you like to put it?

[00:10:18] It's not been good.

[00:10:20] But the thing is, like we say or say,

[00:10:22] should you be like angry at the Mariners defense?

[00:10:25] Like you can be, but rest assured,

[00:10:27] unlike Luis Castillo, I'm not so sure this gets better.

[00:10:31] Is like how are they,

[00:10:32] how do they plan on getting better on the infield defense?

[00:10:35] Like this is what it is.

[00:10:36] We talked about in the off season,

[00:10:37] the defense is going to step backwards.

[00:10:40] They're gonna get worse at at least four defensive spots,

[00:10:44] oh, at least four defensive spots.

[00:10:47] And you know, it's,

[00:10:48] the eye test has shown that through seven games.

[00:10:51] They are worse.

[00:10:52] There have been plays at third base

[00:10:54] that should have been made.

[00:10:55] That weren't, there have been plays at second base

[00:10:58] that should have been made.

[00:10:59] And that weren't in the range

[00:11:00] and the corners right now has not been great.

[00:11:04] It's not been good enough

[00:11:06] for some pictures that give up fly balls into the corners.

[00:11:09] You want those to be outs,

[00:11:11] but with less range in those corner outfield spots,

[00:11:14] instead of being out, it turns into an extra base hit.

[00:11:16] And how damaging is that?

[00:11:19] Is the storybook totally out on Dom Kan's own

[00:11:22] as a defender?

[00:11:22] I don't think it is.

[00:11:24] I know like that play in the corner

[00:11:25] wasn't great on opening night,

[00:11:26] but I don't think he's some awful defender.

[00:11:29] I think he's gonna be a league average defender.

[00:11:32] It's not.

[00:11:34] The book is not out totally on Dom Kan's own.

[00:11:36] He's got plenty of playing career ahead,

[00:11:38] but so far it's not been good.

[00:11:41] And he could get better,

[00:11:42] but how much better can one get defensively

[00:11:47] in the outfield in season like this?

[00:11:51] How big of a step?

[00:11:52] Like one out above average?

[00:11:54] That's not a huge jump

[00:11:55] if we're talking about on a right basis,

[00:11:58] how much better Dom gets.

[00:12:00] No, but he's by OA and DRS through seven games

[00:12:05] been right at zero.

[00:12:05] So this is what I mean by the numbers.

[00:12:07] He's a league average defender right now.

[00:12:08] The play in the corner on opening night wasn't great

[00:12:10] because it turned a double into a triple,

[00:12:12] but I don't think Dom Kan's own is some bad defender.

[00:12:16] Again, I think he'll be perfectly fine out there.

[00:12:18] If you really want to highlight two positions,

[00:12:20] I talked about the infield

[00:12:22] and its second base and third base.

[00:12:23] And that's what I want to revert back to

[00:12:25] because you just alluded to it.

[00:12:27] J.B. Crawford and Ty France

[00:12:28] have been totally fine so far.

[00:12:29] Actually Crawford through seven games

[00:12:31] has been a little above league average as a defender.

[00:12:33] That's a nice sign to see.

[00:12:35] Jorge Polanco through seven games

[00:12:38] is at negative four defensive run saved.

[00:12:40] That is a higher total than he has accrued

[00:12:43] throughout a season in any full season

[00:12:48] he's played at second base.

[00:12:49] So he's got plenty of time to up those DRS numbers,

[00:12:53] but he's never finished a season with anything lower

[00:12:55] than negative three defensive runs saved at second base.

[00:12:58] And he's currently at negative four through seven games.

[00:13:00] That's where the issues currently lie defensively.

[00:13:04] And that's a premium defensive position right there

[00:13:06] up the middle.

[00:13:07] And he had that ball on Wednesday go right off his glove.

[00:13:09] It like should be caught.

[00:13:11] Should be if you played high school baseball,

[00:13:13] your coach is going to say,

[00:13:14] why didn't you catch that ball?

[00:13:16] Right?

[00:13:17] Like that's where we're at and it's that

[00:13:19] and the range too hasn't been great.

[00:13:21] Like the range and we saw the communication issue with J.P.

[00:13:25] Man, this hit and it doesn't help that he's gotten off

[00:13:28] to a slow start at the plate

[00:13:29] and people start looking at all of these things.

[00:13:32] We think Polanco is going to hit,

[00:13:34] but I don't think Polanco is getting again

[00:13:37] that much better on defense throughout the season.

[00:13:39] Like it would take roster shovel to make this team

[00:13:42] team significant taking actual step forward

[00:13:46] on defense this year.

[00:13:47] So

[00:13:49] So here's what I propose to that.

[00:13:51] And I'm going to contradict myself a little bit

[00:13:53] with what we just talked about with Castillo

[00:13:55] with me saying it's early, it's early.

[00:13:57] Well, I do believe that with Castillo.

[00:13:58] I also believe that with the offense.

[00:14:00] I know this isn't one of our talking points on this show,

[00:14:02] but guys, this offense is going to figure it out.

[00:14:05] They are not going to hit like this all season.

[00:14:08] I can promise you that for as many gripes

[00:14:10] as everybody had with the offense last year,

[00:14:12] they were still top 10 in the league and WRC plus.

[00:14:15] And now this roster is better offensively.

[00:14:17] So give it time.

[00:14:18] They're going to hit, but you're right.

[00:14:20] TJ, what you're talking about,

[00:14:22] about defense not always stabilizing, that is true.

[00:14:26] This may be what they have.

[00:14:27] And what I propose with this is here's where I'm going

[00:14:31] to contradict myself because I'm already thinking

[00:14:32] about alternative scenarios.

[00:14:34] If Ryan Bliss gets to the point this year

[00:14:36] where he's ready for a call up,

[00:14:38] do they start to do some position shuffling?

[00:14:41] And why I asked that Josh Rojas grades better

[00:14:44] as a second baseman than he does as a third baseman.

[00:14:46] Would they consider trying to put Polanco over at third?

[00:14:50] And when Bliss comes up, him and Rojas platoon

[00:14:53] at second base, that might do something.

[00:14:56] Polanco is not great defensively anywhere he plays,

[00:14:59] but if you can maximize Rojas' defensive ability

[00:15:03] and platoon him with Bliss, that might do something.

[00:15:07] But wouldn't you want Bliss playing more

[00:15:09] so you can get his glove on the infield more, right?

[00:15:13] Would he platoon at second base is what I'm saying?

[00:15:16] Yeah.

[00:15:18] And Rojas is much better at second base than third.

[00:15:20] Is that a step forward?

[00:15:22] Something.

[00:15:23] A part like, it is something, you're right,

[00:15:25] but a step forward because at some point,

[00:15:31] back like they're gonna hit.

[00:15:32] If in a bad scenario they don't hit,

[00:15:35] like they're gonna need all the pitching they can get.

[00:15:37] And you know what's the worst combination

[00:15:38] you could possibly have?

[00:15:39] The most frustrating version of a team

[00:15:41] where you don't hit, you can really pitch,

[00:15:44] but you can't play defense behind that pitcher

[00:15:46] so that you need to prevent that one run.

[00:15:49] You need to prevent that one run from coming across the board

[00:15:51] that your offense can't scratch out,

[00:15:53] which is the scenario the Mariners ran

[00:15:54] into these first seven games.

[00:15:56] But your defense boots that run away.

[00:15:58] Like that's kind of,

[00:15:59] that's essentially what the Mariners are right now.

[00:16:02] So I don't know if that's a move yet

[00:16:06] that would prevent that run, to be honest.

[00:16:10] So my counter to that is through seven games,

[00:16:13] there is very, very real possibility

[00:16:15] that Rojas turns this thing around

[00:16:16] because he does have the most experience

[00:16:18] playing third base just by innings.

[00:16:20] He's at negative two defensive runs saved

[00:16:22] at third base right now.

[00:16:24] He grades better as a second baseman.

[00:16:25] He spent more time at third,

[00:16:27] grades better at second.

[00:16:28] So again, it may be a step forward

[00:16:32] if they were to make that move.

[00:16:33] Polanco, you're probably gonna have to just hope

[00:16:36] Perry Hill can work with them

[00:16:37] to be a league average defender wherever he plays.

[00:16:40] But it may do something defensively

[00:16:42] if all of a sudden Rojas goes back to second

[00:16:44] and splits some time with Bliss.

[00:16:45] And if Bliss ends up being the better defender

[00:16:47] of all three, then you can put Bliss in

[00:16:50] in late game situations too to play defense.

[00:16:51] Now he's not gonna play third

[00:16:53] because he's a second baseman almost exclusively

[00:16:56] with a little bit of experience at short.

[00:16:58] But that may do something.

[00:17:00] Yeah, it can.

[00:17:02] So we're missing one position here.

[00:17:04] We just can have to accept that right field

[00:17:07] will not grade out average in the defensively.

[00:17:13] Maybe I still hold on to the idea way too much

[00:17:15] of how Mitch Hanegr actually used to be

[00:17:17] a very, very good defender out there.

[00:17:20] It may just be gone now.

[00:17:22] And truthfully, he's not supposed

[00:17:23] to be playing right field every day.

[00:17:25] He's supposed to be getting more days off his feet.

[00:17:28] He'll see some time at DH sometimes.

[00:17:31] That hasn't happened so far.

[00:17:32] So far they've relied on him heavily

[00:17:34] and hopefully he stays healthy all year

[00:17:36] because they need his bat.

[00:17:38] But who's your best option out there?

[00:17:41] I mean, it's probably Rayleigh defensively

[00:17:43] and we'll have to see how he grades out

[00:17:44] through a full season.

[00:17:46] Well, Rayleigh you'd hope just on his speed alone

[00:17:50] would be your second best defensive option in the outfield

[00:17:53] range wise, like Dom's got a good arm

[00:17:55] but range wise it's Julio and Rayleigh.

[00:17:58] But Rayleigh's seen the field the fewest of all of them

[00:18:01] which certainly doesn't help the defense.

[00:18:04] And you have Dimo as well.

[00:18:05] He's a left fielder.

[00:18:07] So that would probably be a scenario Rayleigh

[00:18:09] and right Dimo and left if he's gonna go out there and play.

[00:18:14] So Dimo can play right as we know

[00:18:16] he's played everywhere except for pitcher and catcher

[00:18:19] but he doesn't really have the arm for right field.

[00:18:22] He has the range to play right field.

[00:18:24] Doesn't have the arm.

[00:18:26] And yeah, we saw that speaking of defense

[00:18:29] he had a throw to the plate on Wednesday

[00:18:32] not like a little bit offline as well

[00:18:34] but regardless I'm not worried about Dimo's defense

[00:18:36] in the outfield

[00:18:37] cause I actually think he's pretty good defender out there.

[00:18:40] So there are options to improve

[00:18:44] three of the four defensive positions as we highlighted.

[00:18:47] Dom improvement in the outfield, one, two

[00:18:51] and that like this is without like boring injuries.

[00:18:55] Cade Marlow if he comes up decent defender as well

[00:18:58] who can play in the outfield.

[00:18:59] We saw him play in center field last year

[00:19:01] spelling Julio a little bit

[00:19:03] and then the movement on the infield.

[00:19:05] Like that feels like without an absolute

[00:19:08] like a super drastic change

[00:19:10] that feels like what is realistic with this team

[00:19:13] because otherwise this is what it's gonna be

[00:19:16] and they're gonna have to be able to outscore

[00:19:17] their defensive inefficiencies.

[00:19:20] Like they're flat out gonna have to do that

[00:19:21] because otherwise it's gonna be really frustrating to watch.

[00:19:25] Yeah, and look, Polanco last year

[00:19:27] played over a hundred innings at third base

[00:19:29] that's not a huge sample size but he did

[00:19:32] and he graded as a league average defender.

[00:19:34] Will that sustain if they move him back to third

[00:19:36] at some point?

[00:19:37] I hope so because that really may be a step forward.

[00:19:41] Look for whatever, for, for, for,

[00:19:43] I know much less than the Mariners do

[00:19:44] about why they're deploying certain guys

[00:19:46] at where they're deploying them.

[00:19:47] I'm not, I'm not seven games in

[00:19:49] trying to reshuffle the entire defensive alignment.

[00:19:53] I'm just saying what if down the road

[00:19:55] could they look at in terms of other options

[00:19:57] and that may be another option.

[00:19:59] Polanco can play third.

[00:20:01] So if they feel like, well maybe Josh Rojas

[00:20:03] is best suited at second rather than third

[00:20:05] and maybe we can move Polanco to third

[00:20:07] and he'll be fine over there.

[00:20:09] They may look at that.

[00:20:10] They're not gonna do it yet.

[00:20:11] Again, this is the overarching theme

[00:20:14] of what's gonna be most of our first couple of shows

[00:20:16] is very, very early in the season.

[00:20:19] They could go out and sweep the Brewers this weekend

[00:20:21] and then people are gonna forget

[00:20:22] about a lot of this stuff.

[00:20:23] And if the defense looks a little bit better

[00:20:25] people will start to ease off

[00:20:26] but these scenarios still have to be talked about

[00:20:29] because defense is the least likely

[00:20:32] of the three facets of the game to stabilize

[00:20:34] between hitting, pitching and defense.

[00:20:36] So if you're gonna highlight one aspect of the team

[00:20:40] this early in the year, you do look at the defense.

[00:20:43] They're not gonna change it yet.

[00:20:44] They may have to at some point.

[00:20:47] Who are the Mariners good defenders?

[00:20:50] Cal absolutely behind the plate.

[00:20:52] Julio absolutely.

[00:20:54] For the most part it is those two.

[00:20:56] I mean you're gonna have to hope

[00:20:58] JP can bounce back at shortstop this year

[00:21:01] and play a little bit better defense

[00:21:03] which maybe this is an interesting topic

[00:21:06] for some discourse too.

[00:21:08] What do we make of that by the way?

[00:21:09] I've seen a lot of people on Mariners Twitter

[00:21:11] and not like the some of the Mariners fan

[00:21:15] one, two, three, four, five people.

[00:21:16] It's people that the two of us respect and trust

[00:21:20] that say the metrics don't tell the full story

[00:21:22] on JP Crawford he is a good defender.

[00:21:25] What do we make of that?

[00:21:26] I think we can definitively say both on eye tests

[00:21:29] and numbers going to his right on those backhand balls

[00:21:32] is not his strong suit.

[00:21:33] But overall, do we not give him enough credit

[00:21:36] for his defense?

[00:21:37] I don't know because like the numbers

[00:21:40] but some people say defensive metrics are pretty flawed.

[00:21:44] I don't think we're being unfair.

[00:21:46] I think we would have a better context

[00:21:48] if we more recently got to watch

[00:21:50] a truly elite defensive shortstop.

[00:21:52] Like truly elite what you could like JP was

[00:21:55] someone who was not JP Crawford.

[00:21:57] Like somebody besides JP Crawford

[00:21:59] who is truly an elite defensive shortstop

[00:22:01] which we haven't seen probably since Brenton right, right?

[00:22:04] But you and I don't have-

[00:22:05] Well no, we saw it for a couple of years with JP

[00:22:09] when he won a gold one.

[00:22:09] I said not name JP Crawford

[00:22:11] because there's a bias there.

[00:22:13] Because there's the vision that a lot of people have

[00:22:15] now that he's still an elite defender

[00:22:17] which you and I don't think that is, right?

[00:22:20] Yeah, look the last couple of years

[00:22:22] he has not been that

[00:22:23] but he's off to a better start.

[00:22:25] And again, I'll just give some other people some credit here.

[00:22:29] There's other people in the Mariners,

[00:22:31] you know social media verse

[00:22:32] or people that do Mariners content

[00:22:33] that seem to like to give JP more credit for his defense

[00:22:36] and say, you know what?

[00:22:37] I don't think the metrics tell the full story on him here.

[00:22:39] I'm not saying they're right.

[00:22:41] I'm not saying we're right.

[00:22:42] I'm just proposing the other side of the argument

[00:22:44] in terms of who are the Mariners good defenders

[00:22:46] with me saying should we give him more credit?

[00:22:49] And what I'm saying is that we kind of

[00:22:52] like a lot of people probably have JP lens.

[00:22:55] Just remembering how good he was as a gold glover

[00:22:57] as opposed to now, right?

[00:22:59] And it can affect your view.

[00:23:01] So like more recently seeing an elite defensive shortstop

[00:23:05] play every single day for your baseball team

[00:23:06] whose name is not JP Crawford.

[00:23:08] And like that's Brandon Ryan.

[00:23:09] It's 10 years ago, which you and I

[00:23:12] you might maybe better than me

[00:23:13] be able to recall exactly.

[00:23:15] Yeah, I remember like this is exactly fundamentally

[00:23:17] what he did 10 years ago, 11 years ago

[00:23:20] to be this elite elite at shortstop.

[00:23:23] So that would be a little bit more helpful to clarify

[00:23:28] like really what kind of what level of defense

[00:23:31] JP is playing at short.

[00:23:32] I still like makes the routine plays

[00:23:36] but I still see too many too many gaps

[00:23:38] like elite shortstops do not make mistakes, period.

[00:23:42] Like they don't and it's not just arm

[00:23:44] it's not throwing accurately, it's range as well.

[00:23:46] It's making all sorts of off platform throws

[00:23:49] and I'm watching JP it's not all there, unfortunately.

[00:23:56] So to answer your original question then

[00:23:58] of who are the good Mariners defenders

[00:24:00] or the really good ones?

[00:24:01] You have Cal and you have Julio, is that it?

[00:24:03] Yeah, yeah.

[00:24:06] Unless you wanna give it to a pitcher

[00:24:07] but you know pitcher pitches once every five days.

[00:24:10] So that's about it.

[00:24:13] And I think that paints a pretty stark picture

[00:24:18] of the Mariners and puts that much more pressure on them

[00:24:21] to have to make up for that in other areas.

[00:24:24] Like you gotta be able to catch the ball.

[00:24:29] And that is different than last year.

[00:24:30] They rid themselves of strikeouts this off season

[00:24:33] but if you wanna look at the defense,

[00:24:35] Gino was a great defender last year, he's not there.

[00:24:37] Kalmick's a great defender, he's not there.

[00:24:39] So you take away some defense, you do.

[00:24:42] You're hoping the offense compensates

[00:24:45] and overcompensates for what will be a lesser defensive team

[00:24:49] but yeah, you can't play atrocious defense all year

[00:24:55] and win the amount of games you wanna win.

[00:24:56] It just doesn't happen.

[00:24:58] No, no it doesn't but the Mariners have two choices

[00:25:02] right now they can continue playing poorly

[00:25:03] or they can find a way to mitigate

[00:25:06] their middling defense and not have it lose them games.

[00:25:12] That's the most important thing.

[00:25:14] I don't think the defense lost the Mariners games period

[00:25:18] in these first seven games.

[00:25:19] Like flat out the defense was the reason they lost.

[00:25:22] I don't think that was the case,

[00:25:23] it was certainly a part of it but it wasn't the reason.

[00:25:26] The point on from here on out is for that not to be the point.

[00:25:30] Not to be, yeah that's gonna lose you games.

[00:25:34] I will say in the Mariners first win of the year

[00:25:36] that throw from Luis Arias at third base

[00:25:38] got him pretty close but shout out Ty France.

[00:25:40] Again, grades usually and including right now

[00:25:44] through seven games is a league average defender

[00:25:46] but he made a hell of a pick out of the dirt

[00:25:48] to save a run and keep the lead for the Mariners.

[00:25:50] So like unless you're Evan White

[00:25:54] which Evan White when he was winning a gold glove in 2020

[00:25:57] and early 2021 before he got hurt.

[00:26:00] Unless you're Evan White it's hard to really stand out

[00:26:02] as a defensive first baseman

[00:26:04] but Ty France I think plays perfectly capable

[00:26:08] defense at first base.

[00:26:09] He's pretty good at digging those balls out of the dirt.

[00:26:12] I'm not gonna call him in the Cal or Julio range

[00:26:14] but like that's another guy

[00:26:16] that does what he's supposed to do over there.

[00:26:19] Well credit to Ty

[00:26:20] but wouldn't the other side of that battery

[00:26:23] make offset it, a poor throw dug out by a nice play

[00:26:28] that would be like a net like even.

[00:26:30] Well yeah.

[00:26:31] Yeah. And Arias is gonna have to clean up

[00:26:35] some of those throws like we talked about on the last show

[00:26:37] because you can't have balls in the dirt

[00:26:40] and clutch situations like that.

[00:26:41] Cause that was a pretty routine play

[00:26:42] and the throw got put in the dirt.

[00:26:45] Yeah.

[00:26:46] Cross your fingers every time a ball gets hit in play

[00:26:50] cause that's how it feels right now

[00:26:51] but Mariners have, they really don't have any choice

[00:26:54] but to improve on that.

[00:26:55] Otherwise there could be some real problems.

[00:26:58] Before we get to our MLB wrap around

[00:27:01] let's hear a word from Game Time.

[00:27:03] Have you tried getting tickets

[00:27:04] to your favorite team this season

[00:27:06] and either the price was too high,

[00:27:08] the seats were bad, the interface you're using

[00:27:10] just it wasn't convenient for you.

[00:27:13] I mean that sure happened to me more times than I could count.

[00:27:15] That won't happen though with Game Time.

[00:27:18] Game Time is now an authorized ticket marketplace

[00:27:20] of Major League Baseball

[00:27:22] which makes getting tickets even faster and easier.

[00:27:25] Prices on the Game Time app actually go down

[00:27:28] the closer you get to first pitch.

[00:27:30] For example guys let's take a look

[00:27:31] at the Mariners next homestand.

[00:27:32] They'll be back at home next weekend against the Cubs.

[00:27:36] You go look on Friday, get in price $21.

[00:27:39] You're sitting in the upper deck.

[00:27:40] What if you wanna treat yourself?

[00:27:41] You can go look down, they have a nice interactive map.

[00:27:44] You go look down the third baseline,

[00:27:45] you could find tickets for as low as $35 down there.

[00:27:49] It's super convenient and easy.

[00:27:50] The interactive map makes it

[00:27:52] a very user friendly experience

[00:27:55] to go find exactly where you wanna sit.

[00:27:57] You have the ballpark layout too.

[00:27:59] So you can find the section your seat is in

[00:28:01] and also the flash deals and the lowest,

[00:28:04] the cheapest tickets are highlighted on that map.

[00:28:07] So you know exactly where those are as well

[00:28:09] and makes it for you.

[00:28:10] You're trying to ball on a budget.

[00:28:12] They have you covered with that

[00:28:13] to find you the best possible price.

[00:28:15] Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Game Time.

[00:28:18] Download the Game Time app, create an account

[00:28:20] and use code JustBaseball

[00:28:22] for $20 off your first purchase.

[00:28:24] Terms apply, again create an account

[00:28:26] or redeem code J-U-S-T-B-A-S-E-B-A-L-L

[00:28:32] JustBaseball for $20 off.

[00:28:34] Download the Game Time app today.

[00:28:36] Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed.

[00:28:40] Let's get to our MLB wrap around.

[00:28:42] ["Gametime"]

[00:28:50] Up first on the wrap around,

[00:28:53] I'm shocked it took us this long

[00:28:55] to talk about this subject, Lyle.

[00:28:57] My goodness, what the Oakland A situation

[00:29:01] continues to get worse and worse.

[00:29:03] It was announced today that the A's will be spending

[00:29:07] the next three seasons playing in Sacramento.

[00:29:12] Three seasons in a triple A ballpark.

[00:29:16] Let's give our listeners a little bit

[00:29:18] of a peek behind the curtain.

[00:29:19] So this got announced, TJ said,

[00:29:22] hey, Sacramento is better than Oakland.

[00:29:25] And to be fair, I think he was talking

[00:29:26] about the city itself if I have that right.

[00:29:29] He was saying Sacramento as a city is more desirable.

[00:29:32] Well, for some people, yeah, ballpark though.

[00:29:35] The ballpark's nicer.

[00:29:37] The ballpark as a whole,

[00:29:41] like when you look at the features of it, sure,

[00:29:43] it's not O.co, there's no ballpark that's like O.co.

[00:29:46] Right.

[00:29:47] Here's the problem.

[00:29:48] It sits 14,000 people.

[00:29:52] You know what I was getting at?

[00:29:53] No, I think I said Sacramento

[00:29:55] is a better option than Vegas is.

[00:29:57] That's what I meant.

[00:29:59] Because of the media market is bigger than Vegas

[00:30:01] is significantly bigger in fact.

[00:30:04] I think that's what I was referencing.

[00:30:05] Which is crazy to think about.

[00:30:07] If you were to look the numbers up, prior to looking it up,

[00:30:10] would you ever in a million years think Sacramento

[00:30:12] is a bigger media market than Las Vegas?

[00:30:15] No, but like Vegas obviously more famous,

[00:30:19] but you pull up the census map

[00:30:21] and Sacramento's pretty sizably ahead.

[00:30:25] Yeah.

[00:30:26] Here's the problem with this

[00:30:28] and about a million of them lie.

[00:30:30] Not only is this a 14,000 seat stadium,

[00:30:34] which is ridiculous for an MLB ballpark

[00:30:37] or so they claim by the way.

[00:30:39] Think about all the problems this causes.

[00:30:42] Think about all the A's staff

[00:30:44] that lives in the Bay Area near Oakland

[00:30:46] to which the Oakland A's organization is now telling them

[00:30:49] you wanna keep working for us,

[00:30:51] now you have to commute or move.

[00:30:53] So there's number one.

[00:30:55] All the broadcasts that are gonna run out of that stadium,

[00:30:58] how in the world is that Sacramento Stadium

[00:31:02] gonna be able to withstand two TV broadcasts,

[00:31:04] two radio broadcasts, potentially Spanish radio broadcasts

[00:31:09] and then also have the TV trucks to supplement all this.

[00:31:13] There's number two.

[00:31:14] Number three, these are not major league

[00:31:17] quality facilities at all.

[00:31:19] This is not what big league players deserve and sign up

[00:31:22] or this is a minor league ballpark.

[00:31:24] But again, it's 14,000 people

[00:31:27] and yet this is their deal for the next three years.

[00:31:33] What the hell?

[00:31:33] Like the Rivercats have to be pissed right now.

[00:31:36] You're essentially getting bumped by another AAA team.

[00:31:39] You have to share your stadium with another AAA team

[00:31:43] with more overhead and more political power than you have.

[00:31:49] And if you're gonna start moving

[00:31:50] after this year out of Oakland

[00:31:52] and you're gonna infiltrate another AAA ballpark,

[00:31:55] many of you may know where I'm going with this.

[00:31:57] Why aren't you playing in Vegas?

[00:32:00] Just go to Vegas now

[00:32:02] and play in the AAA ballpark until your ballpark is built.

[00:32:06] Why are you going to Sacramento?

[00:32:07] Again, this is forcing Oakland A's employees

[00:32:10] to have to commute every day to Sacramento.

[00:32:13] The players that probably live in the Bay Area

[00:32:16] now have to commute to Sacramento or move.

[00:32:19] Either just have them move to Vegas

[00:32:22] or stay in Oakland.

[00:32:23] Like this is ridiculous.

[00:32:25] Do you know why?

[00:32:26] Because John Fisher only gets what,

[00:32:31] you know, the political leaders in cities want to give him

[00:32:35] and he got the best deal in Sacramento.

[00:32:36] That's why he's there.

[00:32:38] And if Vegas doesn't build him a stadium,

[00:32:41] he's not going to Vegas

[00:32:43] because he wants the best deal for himself

[00:32:45] that somebody else is gonna pay for.

[00:32:48] That's what he wants.

[00:32:50] That's what I was gonna say.

[00:32:51] You asked me the question.

[00:32:51] I was gonna say two words, John Fisher.

[00:32:55] Yeah.

[00:32:56] How has Major League Baseball not forced this guy

[00:32:58] out of his position yet?

[00:33:00] Well, have you seen the commissioner recently?

[00:33:02] He doesn't seem to think this is a problem.

[00:33:05] He doesn't seem to think it's a problem

[00:33:07] that one of his 30 Major League Baseball franchises

[00:33:10] is purposely not going to try for like seven to eight years

[00:33:15] because of their inept owner trying to force a move out

[00:33:18] because he's not getting a free taxpayer funded stadium.

[00:33:23] Unreal.

[00:33:24] You would think a commissioner would step in

[00:33:26] and do something about it.

[00:33:27] I guarantee you if this was Adam Silver in this position,

[00:33:30] he ain't letting this fly.

[00:33:32] No, no, there would be a forced sale at this point.

[00:33:34] Like this cannot happen.

[00:33:36] A triple A-ball, it's, there are only seats,

[00:33:39] physical seats for 10,000 fans in this stadium.

[00:33:44] 10,000.

[00:33:45] The 14,000 is because of the berm seating in the outfield.

[00:33:48] A big league ballpark that needs to result to berm seating

[00:33:52] for regular season games.

[00:33:57] Like, you know what rub me the wrong the most

[00:34:00] about all this?

[00:34:01] They had a nice press conference today.

[00:34:03] They're trying to gas this up.

[00:34:05] You know one of the highlighting factors John Fisher

[00:34:08] wanted to sell the city of Sacramento on?

[00:34:11] That other baseball players were on other teams

[00:34:14] more specifically Aaron Judge are gonna be the ones

[00:34:16] hitting home runs in this stadium.

[00:34:18] Wouldn't you, wouldn't you Sacramento fans

[00:34:20] want to come to this ballpark and watch Aaron Judge

[00:34:24] hit home runs?

[00:34:27] Would you wanna see that?

[00:34:28] Wouldn't that be so cool?

[00:34:30] Let me pull up the exact quote because you stole

[00:34:33] this little bullet point from me, but that's fine.

[00:34:35] We were gonna bring it up no matter what.

[00:34:37] John Fisher calls Sutter Health Park quote,

[00:34:40] the most intimate park in major league baseball.

[00:34:43] That's like when you-

[00:34:44] Small, he means small.

[00:34:45] He means he doesn't have enough seats in his ballpark.

[00:34:48] Yeah, I was gonna say, you know what that reminds me of?

[00:34:50] That reminds me of looking through New York City

[00:34:53] apartments and Airbnb's when it says like intimate space

[00:34:58] in New York City with great location when in reality

[00:35:02] it's like 150 foot of, or 150 square feet

[00:35:05] of apartment space, aka you're living in a closet.

[00:35:08] So that's what this reminded me of.

[00:35:09] He used intimate as a word to try to gas up

[00:35:14] the new deal they got and say, oh, actually

[00:35:15] it's gonna be great.

[00:35:16] You're gonna love it.

[00:35:17] No you're not.

[00:35:18] So anyway, let me finish this quote.

[00:35:20] Yeah, calls Sutter Health Park,

[00:35:22] the most intimate park in major league baseball.

[00:35:24] He says he can't wait to watch the MLB's top stars

[00:35:28] like Aaron Judge hit home runs here.

[00:35:30] He didn't say he can't wait to watch

[00:35:32] Brent Rooker hit home runs here.

[00:35:34] He didn't say I can't wait to watch

[00:35:37] Istori Ruiz hit home runs here,

[00:35:38] by the way, they just option to triple A this week

[00:35:40] after putting up a 1400 OPS through the first weekend.

[00:35:44] So another A's shining moment

[00:35:46] through the first seven games of the year.

[00:35:49] But he is actively talking about

[00:35:51] don't you want to see other teams come in

[00:35:53] and beat the shit out of the A's in this new ballpark?

[00:35:56] I do.

[00:35:57] And you know why they got option down

[00:35:59] because they're wearing wristbands

[00:36:01] in support of the fans in Oakland.

[00:36:03] That's why.

[00:36:05] This is the kind of organization

[00:36:06] that is being run right now.

[00:36:08] This makes major league baseball look so bad.

[00:36:12] So bad that they let this guy,

[00:36:16] this like let's just,

[00:36:20] let's give people a reminder like who John Stanton is

[00:36:23] or John Stanton.

[00:36:24] Fisher.

[00:36:25] Instinct.

[00:36:27] We've already talked enough about John Stanton.

[00:36:29] John Fisher, his wealth guys remember?

[00:36:33] Not really his.

[00:36:34] It's his parents.

[00:36:35] They founded a pretty famous company called Gap.

[00:36:38] You might have heard of it.

[00:36:40] They have a lot of clothes.

[00:36:41] I'm actually wearing gap clothes right now.

[00:36:43] Like this right here.

[00:36:45] This is the Fisher family name.

[00:36:48] Well, John Fisher inherited most of that.

[00:36:51] Inherited it.

[00:36:53] Didn't earn it.

[00:36:53] He inherited a lot of this.

[00:36:56] So he's pretty used to getting what he wants.

[00:36:58] It doesn't matter what happens to other people.

[00:37:01] It matters how it benefits him.

[00:37:03] And nothing could be shown more than what he's done

[00:37:06] with the ace.

[00:37:07] A proud franchise that draws a ton of fans

[00:37:11] as an incredibly loyal fan base and a ton of history

[00:37:14] that he just doesn't care about.

[00:37:16] Like the whole point of owning a baseball team

[00:37:19] is providing entertainment to a community.

[00:37:22] That's the point.

[00:37:22] Baseball teams are entertainment platforms for communities.

[00:37:26] The Mariners entertain the city of Seattle

[00:37:28] for six months a year

[00:37:31] to give people great things to do during the summer.

[00:37:33] That's the whole point of it.

[00:37:35] But what John Fisher has turned this into

[00:37:38] is how can I rip off the people that buy my tickets

[00:37:43] as much as possible?

[00:37:44] How can I make their experience as bad as possible

[00:37:46] to benefit myself and myself only?

[00:37:49] And it doesn't matter about them.

[00:37:52] It never matters about them.

[00:37:54] And it's so sad.

[00:37:55] And it's so sad

[00:37:56] that people with Sacramento won't care about the ace.

[00:37:58] The people in Vegas won't care about the ace.

[00:38:01] Who the hell is gonna care about the ace outside of Oakland?

[00:38:05] I really don't know

[00:38:07] how they couldn't just get a deal done in Oakland.

[00:38:09] It would just renovate that ballpark already.

[00:38:13] Just renovate the land space you already have.

[00:38:17] It's like that simple.

[00:38:18] There's no football team playing there anymore.

[00:38:19] That's your stadium or at least was.

[00:38:22] Just renovated.

[00:38:23] It is so outdated.

[00:38:25] There's things falling down in that stadium.

[00:38:27] It is not up to Major League standards at all.

[00:38:30] Just renovate that stadium.

[00:38:31] But unfortunately, it doesn't look like it's gonna happen

[00:38:35] unless there's a for sale.

[00:38:37] Well, I'm sure if John Fisher was willing to pay

[00:38:39] out of his own pocket,

[00:38:40] they could have displaced for a couple of years,

[00:38:42] knocked the stadium down, built a new one.

[00:38:45] These things are pretty complicated to be honest.

[00:38:47] A lot of negotiations,

[00:38:47] but he's been negotiating for 20 years.

[00:38:49] So he's had plenty of time to study all options.

[00:38:51] I'm sure including that.

[00:38:53] But you know what the city probably told him?

[00:38:54] Yeah, if you pay for it yourself, why would he do that?

[00:38:58] Remember, the grand scheme of all this

[00:39:01] is making us, right, normal people

[00:39:04] pay for rich people's problems.

[00:39:06] Like that's what it is, right?

[00:39:07] That's the whole stadium.

[00:39:09] You can go look at it up on YouTube.

[00:39:11] That's what this is, right?

[00:39:13] Trying to take people's money.

[00:39:15] Yeah.

[00:39:16] Yeah.

[00:39:17] In conclusion, before we move on, I will say,

[00:39:20] it's pretty tough to get a team,

[00:39:25] as a team that's in our own division,

[00:39:27] that for a lot of years gave the Mariners nightmares

[00:39:29] because the A's once upon a time were good,

[00:39:31] even though it now feels like an E on a go

[00:39:34] and were competitive.

[00:39:35] It's hard to get me to feel sympathy

[00:39:37] for a fan base in your own division

[00:39:39] because you're supposed to root for them to not win.

[00:39:42] But how could you not feel sympathy

[00:39:44] for A's fans, players, staff,

[00:39:47] and the entire city Oakland at this point?

[00:39:49] Like you have to.

[00:39:50] How many people lose jobs because of this?

[00:39:52] All the like the ushers, parking attendants,

[00:39:55] the sanitation workers,

[00:39:58] like on and on and on and on.

[00:40:00] All these people who rely on this

[00:40:02] as a huge part of their income

[00:40:03] and they essentially got the middle finger.

[00:40:05] Yeah.

[00:40:07] Awful.

[00:40:07] It's not good.

[00:40:08] Well, let's move on to a more positive story.

[00:40:10] Well, positive is a term you can interpret

[00:40:16] because this is again an in division team having success

[00:40:19] but it is a pretty cool story.

[00:40:20] So we'll call it positive.

[00:40:22] Ronel Blanco threw a no-hitter

[00:40:23] in the first week of baseball.

[00:40:25] Astros pitcher, no hit the Blue Jays.

[00:40:28] Pretty cool.

[00:40:29] I mean, and a guy that has really had to grind his way

[00:40:33] through the minor leagues got a pretty cool moment

[00:40:36] in the big leagues.

[00:40:37] How about that no-hitter?

[00:40:38] I mean, it's such a cool story.

[00:40:39] He's 30 now, made his major league debut when he was 28.

[00:40:43] And even though he's out of the DR,

[00:40:47] he didn't sign till he was 22.

[00:40:49] Like that's really old.

[00:40:50] By the way, like I heard Jeff Passand talking on,

[00:40:54] I forget exactly where he was talking this week.

[00:40:56] He's talking a lot of spots this week.

[00:40:57] But he reiterated the point how the Astros have sort of found

[00:41:01] the niche of older international prospects.

[00:41:04] And Blanco is one of them.

[00:41:06] Like Luis Garcia signed when he was 21,

[00:41:10] Christian Javier signed when he was 18, which is old.

[00:41:13] And then Framber Valdez signed when he was 21.

[00:41:15] Like those are old international prospect,

[00:41:18] amateur prospects that you sign internationally.

[00:41:22] It's pretty unlikely and Blanco was right along those lines

[00:41:24] and yet he almost threw a perfect game in this.

[00:41:27] He walked the lead off batter, George Springer.

[00:41:29] He retired 26 in a row.

[00:41:31] He then walked George Springer again

[00:41:34] and then got the final out.

[00:41:35] Like he was a George Springer away from a perfect game

[00:41:38] and really just highlights the,

[00:41:41] this is the cool part of baseball.

[00:41:43] He wasn't even supposed to start the season

[00:41:45] in the rotation but they had injuries.

[00:41:46] So he won the last spot.

[00:41:48] And all of a sudden here

[00:41:50] in I think what is eighth career game,

[00:41:52] he throw, he makes history and it's amazing.

[00:41:55] Yeah.

[00:41:56] And the story gets even a little deeper than that.

[00:41:58] He didn't start pitching until he was 18 years old.

[00:42:02] He hadn't pitched.

[00:42:03] He was working at a car wash when he signed.

[00:42:05] When he signed when he was 22,

[00:42:06] he was working at a car wash in the Dominican Republic

[00:42:08] and then he signed for $5,000.

[00:42:11] Spent seven years in the minors, got called up,

[00:42:14] got his shot and then went back to the minors

[00:42:17] for a bit last year.

[00:42:19] Had a good spring in 2024.

[00:42:20] And like you said, there's injuries to the rotation.

[00:42:22] Verlander is not pitching right now.

[00:42:24] Javier is not pitching right now.

[00:42:26] No, sorry, not Javier.

[00:42:27] Luis Garcia is not pitching right now.

[00:42:29] McCullers is not pitching right now.

[00:42:31] Erquiti is not pitching right now

[00:42:33] and JP France is on the paternity list right now.

[00:42:35] So the Astros have a lot of guys

[00:42:37] that are currently not pitching.

[00:42:39] So Blanco got his chance and he made the most of it

[00:42:41] which is pretty awesome.

[00:42:42] I don't know how long he's gonna stick

[00:42:43] in the rotation again.

[00:42:44] At some point you're gonna, I mean,

[00:42:46] Garcia got Tommy John surgery

[00:42:47] in about May or June of last year.

[00:42:49] So we'll see when he gets back this year.

[00:42:50] We'll see when or if McCullers gets back on the field

[00:42:53] but Verlander, Erquiti, France,

[00:42:56] they have guys waiting to come back.

[00:42:58] So we'll see what happens with Blanco

[00:43:00] but the fact that he got this moment, it's pretty cool.

[00:43:03] There's an even deeper peel of this onion.

[00:43:06] So they signed him in 2017.

[00:43:09] You know who the scout was there

[00:43:12] scouting when they found him?

[00:43:14] Who was that?

[00:43:15] Julio.

[00:43:17] Really?

[00:43:18] Yeah, they, he saw him on accident.

[00:43:21] The scout was down there

[00:43:23] and they just happened to see him

[00:43:24] while scouting this highly touted kid

[00:43:26] named Julio Rodriguez.

[00:43:28] Funny how it comes around full circle.

[00:43:31] You know what else is funny

[00:43:32] about the Julio Rodriguez story?

[00:43:34] The fact that he almost signed with the Angels.

[00:43:38] That, oh, God damn, they would have Trout,

[00:43:40] Otani and Julio and still be awful.

[00:43:44] Oh, they would have won 78 games.

[00:43:48] I'm sure Julio is thanking everybody

[00:43:50] every single day that that never happened.

[00:43:52] That he, yeah.

[00:43:54] That's a pretty cool story out of Houston.

[00:43:56] Yeah, it's very cool.

[00:43:57] Our third wrap around subject.

[00:43:59] I just want to give a quick shout out

[00:44:01] to New York Mets who have somehow

[00:44:03] here in the year of our Lord,

[00:44:04] 2024 managed to have two straight games rained out.

[00:44:09] Really impressive stuff guys.

[00:44:11] It is 2024 and water causes us to go

[00:44:15] 48 hours without baseball.

[00:44:18] 22 games in a row.

[00:44:21] Well, is there a solution to this?

[00:44:23] Unfortunately, there's not.

[00:44:25] There's nothing that can be done, is there?

[00:44:27] I'm sorry, how much money did Steve Cohen

[00:44:28] pay for his roster last year?

[00:44:30] 430 million?

[00:44:33] How about that?

[00:44:34] How much does a roof cost, Lyle?

[00:44:36] I'm no roof expert, I don't know, but.

[00:44:38] Do you think he could build a roof over city field

[00:44:40] for 430 million dollars?

[00:44:43] Yeah, probably.

[00:44:44] You know, I think Mets fans,

[00:44:45] instead of watching last year's team crumble,

[00:44:48] I think they might have just rather

[00:44:50] build a roof over their stadium

[00:44:51] and had a nice dry experience

[00:44:53] watching a baseball game.

[00:44:56] So I will say this,

[00:44:57] we've talked about this whole roof argument

[00:44:59] on this podcast before and anybody who listens

[00:45:01] knows TJ and I are pro roofs on every baseball stadium

[00:45:04] because again, water is canceling

[00:45:07] professional sporting events in 2024.

[00:45:10] That being said, I think I've said this in the past,

[00:45:12] I don't really know how you'd put a roof on Fenway Park.

[00:45:14] I don't really know how you'd put a roof on Wrigley Field.

[00:45:17] But with that, if you're building

[00:45:19] new stadiums these days,

[00:45:21] you shouldn't be allowed to build one without a roof.

[00:45:25] City field opened in 2009.

[00:45:27] Who in the world approved that project

[00:45:29] with no roof on it?

[00:45:31] New York is not LA, it rains there in the spring.

[00:45:35] Why is there no roof on that stadium?

[00:45:38] That's a good question.

[00:45:39] So I had, I've just had a sudden thought on this.

[00:45:43] If there were to build more stadiums like Wrigley Field,

[00:45:47] then I would be okay with no roofs

[00:45:49] because Wrigley is special and unique.

[00:45:51] It would be less unique

[00:45:52] if you built more ball parks like that.

[00:45:53] But for this sake, if team and owners

[00:45:57] committed to building more stadiums like that,

[00:46:00] I would be a bigger fan of it.

[00:46:02] Now, if they start building more stadiums

[00:46:04] like the one in Texas,

[00:46:05] which looks like a dime a dozen carbon copy,

[00:46:08] yeah, you better put a roof on that.

[00:46:09] If your ballpark looks like a Costco warehouse,

[00:46:13] it should have a roof on it.

[00:46:15] Dude, Coors Field has no roof.

[00:46:19] It snows in Denver in April.

[00:46:22] Yeah, Coors Field should have a roof.

[00:46:23] Minnesota has no roof.

[00:46:25] Yeah, those should have roofs.

[00:46:27] In Minnesota, it's like 15 degrees on opening day.

[00:46:32] Like build roofs on your stadiums.

[00:46:36] I will listen to the argument saying,

[00:46:38] you can't put them on places like Fenway, Wrigley.

[00:46:40] Yeah, sure, not only would it be logistically impossible,

[00:46:43] but it just wouldn't look right on those stadiums.

[00:46:47] If you don't wanna build a roof in LA

[00:46:48] because in LA, you're rarely gonna get rain, fine.

[00:46:51] Maybe every once in a blue moon, there's a rain delay.

[00:46:55] Places like Minnesota, Colorado, New York,

[00:46:59] why are there no roofs on those stadiums?

[00:47:02] Or stadiums that are in the middle of nowhere, like Kaufman.

[00:47:05] Why does that not have a roof?

[00:47:06] Not like you're lacking space.

[00:47:08] Using where Kaufman is.

[00:47:10] It's like yet in the middle of nowhere.

[00:47:13] There's a bunch of grass hills

[00:47:15] behind the field or something.

[00:47:16] Right, right next to Arrowhead.

[00:47:18] It's just parking lot and field around it.

[00:47:21] Like yeah, you can put a roof on that,

[00:47:22] but you can do it.

[00:47:24] Yeah.

[00:47:25] 2024 and rain is affecting baseball games.

[00:47:29] Hockey doesn't allow weather delays in their sports.

[00:47:31] The NBA doesn't allow weather delays in their sports

[00:47:33] because they realize if there is rain on the rink

[00:47:38] or on the hardwood, you can't play.

[00:47:41] So they build everything into worse.

[00:47:43] It's amazing.

[00:47:44] Major league baseball, yeah.

[00:47:45] Well for rains we can't play.

[00:47:46] Should we play outside?

[00:47:47] Yeah, yeah we should

[00:47:49] because it's America's past time mile.

[00:47:51] We have to do that.

[00:47:52] We have to, we have to.

[00:47:54] Okay, let's get to Speak Your Mind.

[00:47:57] Speak Your Mind Spock.

[00:48:02] That would be unwise.

[00:48:04] What is necessary is never unwise.

[00:48:08] Lyle, what is on your mind this week?

[00:48:11] TJ says that with a little bit of an extra pep in his voice.

[00:48:14] He knows why, I know why.

[00:48:16] We're about to inform all of you why.

[00:48:18] There's a group of people out there

[00:48:20] not too happy at time of recording

[00:48:23] with the Marine Layer Podcast.

[00:48:24] You know who that is?

[00:48:26] The National Baseball Hall of Fame.

[00:48:29] I cannot believe that somehow

[00:48:32] our little podcast has gotten intertwined

[00:48:35] with the most decorated museum in all of baseball.

[00:48:39] Maybe the most decorated landmark in all of baseball,

[00:48:43] but we did.

[00:48:44] How did that happen you might ask?

[00:48:46] Well, there was a tweet today

[00:48:48] surfacing on Blue Jays Twitter that said,

[00:48:52] actually should I just pull up the original tweet

[00:48:54] and read it just to make sure I get the words right for it?

[00:48:57] I feel like I probably should.

[00:48:58] Yeah, this was unreal today.

[00:49:01] So there is a tweet that says,

[00:49:03] apparently there's an ex Blue Jays reliever out there

[00:49:06] saying that he doesn't believe Babe Ruth ever existed

[00:49:09] because, and I quote,

[00:49:11] you only ever see the one video of him

[00:49:13] trotting around the bases end quote.

[00:49:16] So who could that possibly be?

[00:49:19] Well, there was a lot of people in the comments

[00:49:21] saying Anthony Bass, which, oh boy.

[00:49:24] Is this reliever involved with popcorn?

[00:49:26] Yeah.

[00:49:28] Yeah.

[00:49:30] Well, while we let all of Twitter speculate about it

[00:49:33] because I guess that tweet really got some traction.

[00:49:35] It's well over 100,000 views.

[00:49:37] We're sitting back saying, oh no, we know who said that.

[00:49:42] We know whose quote that is.

[00:49:43] Why?

[00:49:44] Because it was on here with the two of us,

[00:49:47] which we then posted onto social media

[00:49:49] and has over 300,000 views on Instagram.

[00:49:52] That would be our guy, friend of the pod,

[00:49:55] one Taylor Sausado who as I'm sure most of you know

[00:49:58] is very much of the belief Babe Ruth is not real.

[00:50:01] And you know what?

[00:50:02] I shouldn't just single out sauce with this.

[00:50:04] A lot of the Mariners bullpen believes that as we know.

[00:50:07] So that tweet starts surfacing.

[00:50:09] We start to see some actual accounts quote tweeting it.

[00:50:12] TJ and I are sitting back laughing saying,

[00:50:15] I can't believe this is all surfacing again

[00:50:17] because it certainly did its wave

[00:50:19] when we first posted it.

[00:50:20] But now it's continued to keep going.

[00:50:22] Four months ago.

[00:50:23] Yeah.

[00:50:24] Four months.

[00:50:26] And where does this get better?

[00:50:28] How does this tie into Cooperstown?

[00:50:29] Well, to that original tweet that was put out,

[00:50:33] the National Baseball Hall of Fame Twitter account

[00:50:36] with 312,000 followers,

[00:50:40] replies to the original tweet that says,

[00:50:43] our genuine reaction to that information.

[00:50:45] And it is a picture of a blank staring Babe Ruth.

[00:50:49] George Herman Ruth.

[00:50:51] So they reply to the tweet saying that.

[00:50:55] And then they quote tweet the tweet saying,

[00:50:57] to whoever this is that believes this,

[00:51:00] we've got a section of our museum for you to see.

[00:51:03] And it's all this memorabilia of Babe Ruth.

[00:51:05] So the National Baseball Hall of Fame

[00:51:08] clearly is not taking kindly

[00:51:10] to certain accusations out there

[00:51:12] about one of their most decorated players

[00:51:14] being called a mythical creature

[00:51:16] and a fictional character.

[00:51:18] Who would ever do something like that

[00:51:19] and promote such ridiculous claims?

[00:51:22] Well, that would be us here at the Marine Layer podcast

[00:51:26] and the Seattle Mariners full pen.

[00:51:28] I think there's a conversation with Taylor Sausato

[00:51:31] a week from when this releases with you and Saus.

[00:51:37] You have an official invitation now, buddy.

[00:51:41] You're good.

[00:51:42] Here's how I should sales pitch it for him.

[00:51:45] You know how we always talk about on social media

[00:51:46] that you have to hook people early

[00:51:48] into your social clips.

[00:51:49] Otherwise people won't stay engaged.

[00:51:51] I'll keep Saus engaged by saying,

[00:51:52] hey, the National Baseball Hall of Fame

[00:51:55] is interested in you.

[00:51:57] And it'll be like, what are you serious?

[00:51:58] It's like, well, here's why.

[00:52:01] And then we show them exactly why it's like,

[00:52:02] oh, they don't like my Babe Ruth takes.

[00:52:07] You know the funniest thing about all of this?

[00:52:09] This topic entered both of our worlds today

[00:52:14] on different branches.

[00:52:18] Here at the radio station in Corvallis,

[00:52:20] our main host here,

[00:52:22] I'm driving a football practice today.

[00:52:24] Calls me.

[00:52:27] Usually it'll call me a couple hours before the show.

[00:52:28] We'll talk about what's going on today.

[00:52:30] And if I need to get anything done,

[00:52:32] but I wasn't gonna be into produce today

[00:52:34] because I was at football practice.

[00:52:36] He knows that.

[00:52:38] So he was like, teach.

[00:52:40] I was listening back to an episode

[00:52:42] of your Marine Layer podcast

[00:52:44] and I stumbled upon your conversation

[00:52:46] with Justin Toppa, also big Babe Ruth guy,

[00:52:50] Justin Toppa and Ted Williams especially.

[00:52:53] And what is it about this topic

[00:52:56] about Babe Ruth not being real?

[00:52:57] And I was like, oh, this can't be happening right now.

[00:53:02] This can't be happening.

[00:53:03] So I explain it.

[00:53:04] He's like, huh, well, I believe that.

[00:53:08] Certainly I would believe that.

[00:53:10] And you know what?

[00:53:11] It went on the show here on Thursday.

[00:53:14] Suddenly I never thought our Oregon State-based talk show

[00:53:17] would talk about Babe Ruth not existing.

[00:53:21] He talked on the show today

[00:53:22] and I will be going on tomorrow

[00:53:25] to discuss it in an entire segment

[00:53:27] because I missed the show today

[00:53:29] because just so in the way it was used to reference today,

[00:53:33] the mythical being of one Travis Bazzana

[00:53:35] who might go first overall this upcoming July

[00:53:37] and you know, a hundred years from now

[00:53:39] people might be calling Travis Bazzana fake

[00:53:41] because he only played during the time of HD

[00:53:43] and not of whatever technology exists in a hundred years.

[00:53:47] So then I mean that very well could exist

[00:53:49] and the conversation could change.

[00:53:51] But how funny is it that all of this

[00:53:54] in multiple different ways in our lives resurfaced today

[00:53:58] all because of one person saying, hey listen,

[00:54:03] all of his videos kind of look fake?

[00:54:06] Well, I will say, so to just give some additional context,

[00:54:10] TJ got this call well before we saw this tweet.

[00:54:14] So it's totally unrelated.

[00:54:15] These two things have nothing to do with each other.

[00:54:17] It's just coincidental that they both occurred

[00:54:19] on the same day.

[00:54:20] But I will say when you go on the show,

[00:54:23] I hope you're prepared because you've got

[00:54:26] you've got reputations of guys in that bullpen to uphold.

[00:54:29] Like you got a back sauce and topa

[00:54:31] and everybody else with these takes.

[00:54:34] I will know I will and they bring up some good points.

[00:54:37] Listen, they got a lot of time to sit out there and think

[00:54:40] the first four innings relievers aren't in the game.

[00:54:42] They sit out there and they think

[00:54:44] and they go through every single detail of everything.

[00:54:50] Like come on, come on.

[00:54:52] It's almost like a fictional character.

[00:54:56] It was like how when there was that

[00:54:58] there was that clip that went viral on Twitter

[00:55:02] a couple months ago.

[00:55:02] This was after we posted the Babe Ruth clip of Babe Ruth

[00:55:07] like 100 years ago giving baseball lessons to

[00:55:12] literally kids and there was a couple of highlights

[00:55:15] in there of him supposedly pitching.

[00:55:18] And it's like a compilation of all these Babe Ruth

[00:55:20] highlights. So we quote tweeted it and said,

[00:55:22] don't show this to the Mariners bullpen.

[00:55:25] Sauce, of course, finds the tweet, replies and says,

[00:55:28] notice how when he's pitching his backs turned

[00:55:30] into the camera with the thinking emoji,

[00:55:32] which goes back to the original take, doesn't it?

[00:55:35] All these guys say, look, George Herman Ruth

[00:55:37] may have been a real person, but all these stories

[00:55:41] that were told about him.

[00:55:43] Not like it is.

[00:55:44] I will say like the guy hit 714 home runs in an era

[00:55:48] where guys usually didn't hit more than 10 or 12

[00:55:50] in a season.

[00:55:52] I don't know.

[00:55:53] No, people are saying they juice the balls for them.

[00:55:57] Can you even juice balls back then?

[00:55:59] Well, you know the funniest thing all that?

[00:56:01] Like our sports talk show here isn't very conspiratorial,

[00:56:04] but I mean, it was flat out said today.

[00:56:06] It's like, no, he didn't call his shot.

[00:56:08] He's full shit.

[00:56:11] Well, and that's what Isaiah Campbell said.

[00:56:14] That's how this all got started when I say when

[00:56:17] Isaiah Campbell was still on the Mariners.

[00:56:18] We asked him when we've told us before, but still,

[00:56:21] what moment in baseball history would you want to see

[00:56:23] if you could time travel?

[00:56:24] He's like, well, from all our conversations

[00:56:26] on the bullpen, I want to see if Babe Ruth

[00:56:27] is actually real or not.

[00:56:29] And I said, do you think that called shot was real?

[00:56:31] And he's like, well, there have been some pretty good

[00:56:33] arguments saying no.

[00:56:35] And here we are still talking about it.

[00:56:37] So now it's tied all the way in to the National

[00:56:41] Baseball Hall of Fame all the way out in Cooperstown

[00:56:43] at the other side of the country.

[00:56:45] Just incredible.

[00:56:45] It is just incredible again how four months later,

[00:56:49] this is still a thing.

[00:56:50] But hey, Babe Ruth is forever.

[00:56:53] Like I said, shout out to the people in the pen

[00:56:56] that shouted out to us on opening night saying,

[00:56:57] Babe Ruth isn't real.

[00:56:59] This thing, as I put it on Twitter today,

[00:57:02] this thing's like taking on a life of its own.

[00:57:04] I didn't ever expect it to do this.

[00:57:05] I figured a few people would get some laps out of it,

[00:57:07] but now it's we almost created a monster here.

[00:57:10] I don't know.

[00:57:11] It's a good one.

[00:57:13] Yeah, good one.

[00:57:14] It's not like he's going to get up and defend himself while

[00:57:17] he's not here to defend himself so we can take

[00:57:19] as many shots as we want.

[00:57:20] Well, it's true.

[00:57:23] This is true.

[00:57:23] And if he was, he'd probably be off drinking 30 beers

[00:57:27] and eating 20 steaks after a game anyway.

[00:57:29] He probably wouldn't, he probably wouldn't like have any

[00:57:32] leftover energy to defend this.

[00:57:33] No problem.

[00:57:34] Probably no, probably not.

[00:57:35] You probably be doing some other more malicious things

[00:57:37] too that will go unnamed.

[00:57:40] So here we are.

[00:57:42] We have gotten tied in with the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

[00:57:46] What a world I dreamed as a kid of going into the Hall

[00:57:50] of Fame as a professional baseball player, I would say

[00:57:52] I was about as far off on that dream as you could

[00:57:54] possibly imagine because well, yeah,

[00:57:57] I didn't get passed by in high school baseball.

[00:57:59] However, now I'm not even going to say we've made it.

[00:58:02] I thought about for a second saying, well, now we're a part

[00:58:04] of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

[00:58:05] No, we're not.

[00:58:05] They're just they're just infamously sub tweeting us.

[00:58:09] What if they cut out or us tweeting the clip of

[00:58:13] Sausato talking about it?

[00:58:15] Oh, then we would make it.

[00:58:16] Then we'd be in the Hall of Fame.

[00:58:18] Well, if they do that, we can say we made it into

[00:58:21] the Baseball Hall of Fame.

[00:58:22] So I like that.

[00:58:23] That sounds good.

[00:58:24] It does.

[00:58:25] We'll put it in our, we'll put it on our

[00:58:26] reservoirs too.

[00:58:27] It's like, it's like podcasting social media in the

[00:58:33] national baseball Hall of Fame.

[00:58:34] No, just throw it in there.

[00:58:35] Last line.

[00:58:36] No big deal.

[00:58:37] No, no big deal at all.

[00:58:39] All right.

[00:58:40] This has been a fun show.

[00:58:41] I think that just about wraps up this edition of

[00:58:43] the Marine Layer podcast.

[00:58:44] You guys know the drill.

[00:58:46] You want to listen to the full form podcast.

[00:58:47] You can do so wherever you get your audio pods,

[00:58:49] make sure download, leave us that five star review rate

[00:58:52] and review if you're listening.

[00:58:54] If you're watching YouTube, like comment and subscribe.

[00:58:56] Hit that big red subscribe button.

[00:58:58] It helps us out a bunch and then follow us on social media.

[00:59:00] We're on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube shorts at Marine Layer pod.

[00:59:05] That's TJ.

[00:59:06] I'm Lyle as always.

[00:59:07] We thank you guys for tuning in.

[00:59:09] We'll talk to you soon.