Episode 125: What Did The Last Five Series Tell Us About The Mariners?

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[00:01:00] Welcome to episode number 125 of the Marine Layer podcast.

[00:01:03] We have our two Mariners storylines, what these last five series wins say about this

[00:01:08] team and we'll also discuss Mitch Garver's performance at the plate so far this season.

[00:01:13] We'll go down on the farm and pick out a standout Mariners minor leaguer.

[00:01:16] We have our Russell Wilson umpire of the week and we'll close out the show with

[00:01:20] Speak Your Mind.

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[00:02:36] And we welcome you to this episode of the Marine Layer podcast part of the

[00:02:39] Just Baseball Podcast Network recording here on Thursday afternoon, May 2nd.

[00:02:46] Another Friday episode and another series win.

[00:02:51] This one, the most impressive so far in this 2024 season.

[00:02:57] I thought the season was over.

[00:02:59] It was like two weeks ago, but hey, dog, it's been a new season.

[00:03:05] So now they're now they're winning the World Series.

[00:03:07] They had a season where they clinched the first overall pick and then the next

[00:03:12] season, they win the World Series.

[00:03:13] So it's honestly the best of both worlds.

[00:03:16] They could not have clinched the first overall pick in the first half of April.

[00:03:19] There's no way.

[00:03:20] Whoa, whoa, whoa.

[00:03:21] They clinched the first overall pick based on based on vibes alone.

[00:03:25] Hmm.

[00:03:26] Well, hey, it's a draft lottery now.

[00:03:28] So maybe they did get the first pick if you just base it off the first

[00:03:30] two weeks of April.

[00:03:32] Hey, listen, even if you're an absolutely terrible team, some of these teams

[00:03:36] can't actually get top 10 picks.

[00:03:38] So someone someone's got to pick up there like the White Sox.

[00:03:41] They can't pick in the top 10 this year.

[00:03:43] So the Mariners bad vibes of the first two weeks of the season swoop

[00:03:47] in and take that first overall pick instead.

[00:03:51] Incredible.

[00:03:52] Well, you know, the A's aren't getting the number one pick.

[00:03:54] They've tanked multiple years in a row, have the worst record

[00:03:56] in baseball and never get the number one pick.

[00:03:58] Right.

[00:03:58] So the White Sox and the A's cannot pick in the top 10.

[00:04:03] It's almost like you can't pick three.

[00:04:05] You can't pick in the top 10 three drafts in a row.

[00:04:08] Yeah, that's right.

[00:04:09] Well, you know, it would have been nice if the major league baseball

[00:04:12] jumped in and stopped the Orioles from getting so many good players.

[00:04:15] And then then, you know, we could, you know, talk about the

[00:04:17] Mariners path through the American League a little bit easier if well.

[00:04:23] The Orioles weren't loaded.

[00:04:24] Yeah.

[00:04:24] Yeah.

[00:04:25] Yeah.

[00:04:25] What?

[00:04:25] That would be very helpful.

[00:04:27] Hmm.

[00:04:28] Well, it's almost like the MLB draft lottery isn't so random after all.

[00:04:33] Maybe it's fixed just like the NBA draft lottery is fixed, but that's a

[00:04:36] topic for another day.

[00:04:37] I think it would make the league infinitely more entertaining if we

[00:04:40] were freezing draft cards and purposely shutting teams out of the lottery

[00:04:45] just based on, you know, who we want to see go where.

[00:04:49] I think it's more fun that way.

[00:04:50] Yeah, exactly.

[00:04:51] But hey, all in all, Mariners last two weeks, vibes high, very high.

[00:04:56] Yeah.

[00:04:57] You could say so.

[00:04:58] And, you know, this can lead us into our first Mariners storyline and we're

[00:05:03] going to sort of observe what the last five series, the Mariners have

[00:05:07] played since April 15th, say about this team.

[00:05:10] Let me throw some numbers at you of how good this team has been.

[00:05:13] The last five series, they have a 148 eRA over that stretch in that

[00:05:21] time, they've struck out 29% of their batters and walked just seven at

[00:05:26] the plate in that stretch.

[00:05:27] They have a 110 WRC plus, which ranks six in the baseball doesn't seem like it,

[00:05:33] but yeah, they do over that stretch.

[00:05:36] It almost seems like they should have won more games than they actually did.

[00:05:40] Even though they won a lot of games the last two weeks, they probably

[00:05:45] should have won more.

[00:05:47] Anytime of pitching staff pitches like this, of course you're going to

[00:05:50] look and say you should win every single game.

[00:05:53] I don't know if you can win every game.

[00:05:54] Sure, there's a couple you can point to and say the Mariners should have

[00:05:57] taken that one, that game in Colorado.

[00:05:59] That one's going to stand out even with DEMO and the fan interference whole thing.

[00:06:05] The Mariners should never have let it get to that point.

[00:06:06] You can circle that game for example, it's hard to sweep teams unless

[00:06:11] you're the Rockies, which the Mariners should have swept them.

[00:06:13] It's hard to sweep teams, especially when most of the teams they've

[00:06:17] been playing are pretty solid like Diamondbacks, reigning NL champs,

[00:06:23] Braves, best team in baseball in the American or in by regular season last year.

[00:06:27] Rangers World Series champions, they played a lot of good teams.

[00:06:30] We know the Reds are talented.

[00:06:31] There's another although they swept the Reds.

[00:06:33] So it's hard to pinpoint which game specifically they should have won more

[00:06:38] of I guess aside from that Colorado game, but it's hard to be unhappy

[00:06:43] with what they're doing right now.

[00:06:44] Five series wins in a row.

[00:06:45] You win every series.

[00:06:46] Who can complain?

[00:06:48] So the pitching has been unbelievable.

[00:06:50] We knew that.

[00:06:51] You dug up the offensive stats over those series.

[00:06:55] I could not, my jaw was on the floor and I saw there over that time in major

[00:06:59] league baseball, the Mariners are the sixth best offense in baseball.

[00:07:03] It sure doesn't seem like it.

[00:07:06] It sure looks like when we sit there and we watch them go up and strike

[00:07:10] out at an almost 30% rate at the plate.

[00:07:14] It doesn't seem like a top 10 offense, top 15 offense, top 20

[00:07:19] offense, but compared to the rest of league, they're 10% above league

[00:07:26] average in the last five series.

[00:07:30] My main takeaway, one, the Reds and Rocky series did carry a little bit

[00:07:34] of weight.

[00:07:34] The Mariners out of those six games had four really good offensive games.

[00:07:38] And I think that has sort of carried the water to balance out the past

[00:07:44] week of offense, the Mariners fed, which hasn't been as good.

[00:07:48] But secondly, dude, what's up with this offensive environment in major league

[00:07:52] baseball? It is pretty goddamn low.

[00:07:59] This could be a whole talking point for another show.

[00:08:01] I don't know if we're getting to the point where there's going to have

[00:08:03] to be real consideration about moving the mountains back because it's

[00:08:06] so picture friendly these days.

[00:08:08] I don't know, but you're right that offense and baseball is down.

[00:08:12] There's no doubt about it.

[00:08:13] But if you just want to look at the Mariners over this two week

[00:08:16] lens, because that's what you mean when you say the Mariners are

[00:08:18] the sixth best offense in baseball, that's not total.

[00:08:21] That's over the last couple of weeks since April 15th to be exact when they

[00:08:24] started this streak of winning five straight series.

[00:08:28] But it's true.

[00:08:28] They are the sixth best offense.

[00:08:30] Like let's go through a couple of the different stats.

[00:08:32] You mentioned their sixth and weighted runs created plus.

[00:08:34] That's true.

[00:08:35] There's six than slugging percentage.

[00:08:36] There's six than Woba.

[00:08:38] Their fifth and walk rate, their 10th and on base percentage.

[00:08:41] There's six in offensive F war on fan graphs.

[00:08:44] Now there are some other things you can look at.

[00:08:47] Yes, they are still leading the league and strikeout right over that

[00:08:49] time, which is less than ideal.

[00:08:51] There's 17th and run scored, which is below league average in that time.

[00:08:55] There's a lot of trends about this offense that actually say, oh,

[00:08:59] they're going in the right direction and all of that, all of this

[00:09:03] over the last couple of weeks when they've been the sixth best

[00:09:05] offense in baseball, let me remind everybody.

[00:09:08] Julio is not in full stride yet.

[00:09:10] Jorge Polanco certainly not in full stride yet.

[00:09:12] Mitch Garver certainly not in full stride yet.

[00:09:15] Luke Rayleigh, who's somehow almost been forgotten about when talking

[00:09:19] about the core of this team.

[00:09:21] This guy was a 130 WRC plus guy last year.

[00:09:24] The dude was one of the best hitters in baseball in the first half last year.

[00:09:28] He hasn't hit for a lick of power yet.

[00:09:30] And in addition to that, you don't have JP Crawford and you

[00:09:34] don't have Dom Kanzon.

[00:09:35] So imagine what this team can look like if they're the sixth

[00:09:38] best offense in baseball right now with all of those things going

[00:09:42] against them when everybody can get healthy.

[00:09:44] It's almost like as time goes on and the season progresses,

[00:09:49] things should get better.

[00:09:50] Jorge Polanco and Mitch Garver aren't going to hit below the Mendoza

[00:09:53] line all year with WRC pluses in the 60 to 70 range.

[00:09:56] It's just not going to happen.

[00:09:59] Could it be that this Mariners offense in a general sense of baseball,

[00:10:03] if we want to take multiple seasons into account, this

[00:10:06] offense might not be overly productive by the raw numbers, but then

[00:10:10] we get to the end of the year and we look at the rest of the league

[00:10:12] and they could still be above league average.

[00:10:14] Like Jorge Polanco and Mitch Garver, based on the pitching that we've

[00:10:18] seen so far this season, could have bad years compared to their

[00:10:22] other years and yet still by the league average still be good players.

[00:10:27] Like we could certainly arrive at that point.

[00:10:29] April, the April production for hitters in Major League

[00:10:32] Baseball is suggesting that both Jorge Polanco and Mitch Garver

[00:10:36] are having not just bad years.

[00:10:38] I mean, they're having outlier bad years in their careers,

[00:10:41] like not even close to the low points in their careers so far.

[00:10:45] And you know, this cannot be like this literally cannot be like this.

[00:10:50] They cannot just be washed players.

[00:10:52] They can't be done.

[00:10:52] They can't be toast, right?

[00:10:54] That just doesn't really make sense.

[00:10:56] We'll talk about Mitch Garver a little bit more in our next storyline.

[00:11:00] But Polanco for example, the most he had ever struck out in his career

[00:11:04] before the season was last year when he was hurt in and out of the line

[00:11:08] up was 25.7%.

[00:11:10] He is at 31% this year.

[00:11:13] Guys don't just add 5% to their K-rate when they turn 30.

[00:11:18] That's not very normal.

[00:11:20] So it just doesn't really make much sense.

[00:11:23] And some of these numbers could just reflect the fact that Major

[00:11:28] League teams have figured out this whole pitching thing.

[00:11:31] Like they've really figured out the best way to attack hitters.

[00:11:35] And it is really difficult for these hitters to adjust.

[00:11:38] The spin is too good.

[00:11:39] The velocity is too good.

[00:11:41] And it doesn't help that some umpires like our special friend on Wednesday,

[00:11:45] who will get to also later on in this episode behind the plate was giving

[00:11:50] Chris Sell 6 inches off the outside corner.

[00:11:53] I don't know how you're supposed to hit, right?

[00:11:55] So taking all that into, uh, compass all of that.

[00:11:58] And over the last two weeks, the Mariners are still 10% better than

[00:12:01] League average.

[00:12:01] You said six best slugging team, right?

[00:12:04] Over that time.

[00:12:06] They're not even slugging 400 in that stretch.

[00:12:08] Think about that.

[00:12:10] Six best in baseball, yet not even slugging 400.

[00:12:15] You send guys to the minors for not slugging 400.

[00:12:19] Right.

[00:12:20] In like, in conclusion, bring back the juice baseballs.

[00:12:24] I'm down.

[00:12:24] That was so much fun.

[00:12:27] Yes.

[00:12:28] And I feel like it would be balanced out a little bit better now.

[00:12:30] If you have the juice baseballs with how advanced pitching's gotten,

[00:12:34] it might still favor pitchers.

[00:12:35] To be honest, pitching's just gotten so good that sometimes guys

[00:12:37] don't even put bat to ball, but it feels like it would balance it out more.

[00:12:41] Yeah.

[00:12:42] If it was up to me, bring the juice baseballs back and one more point on my

[00:12:45] end about the offense, I just talked about all these guys that are not

[00:12:48] hitting their stride yet.

[00:12:49] I didn't mention Ty France either who we've talked about.

[00:12:52] You look at his baseball, savante page.

[00:12:53] It says he's gotten unlucky in a lot of ways and he is hitting the ball

[00:12:56] hard.

[00:12:56] He just needs to one start elevating a little bit more and two have

[00:12:59] some better luck go his way, which will balance out over time.

[00:13:02] There's another guy that is not doing what we think he is at the

[00:13:06] maximum capable of doing yet.

[00:13:08] The one consistent in this lineup right now is essentially the third base

[00:13:11] platoon Rojas for sure, but even when Arias is in there against lefties,

[00:13:14] we know he's put up some big hits and his OPS is above 800 against lefties.

[00:13:20] It's basically them.

[00:13:21] And at times Cal Raleigh too, it's cows had some hot stretches.

[00:13:24] Then he had this whole thing where he had to have a dental procedure.

[00:13:26] And I think it, I think it's hampered him for a couple of games

[00:13:29] because he was 0 for 16 at one point since getting the dental procedure

[00:13:32] before getting a hit this weekend.

[00:13:34] So it's really just been Raleigh and third base.

[00:13:37] The rest of the team is not even close to hitting their stride yet.

[00:13:40] Mitch Hannigan has been cold the last couple of weeks too, yet in spite

[00:13:43] of all of that, six best offense in baseball.

[00:13:47] My one last observation from this five game stretch.

[00:13:50] So like let's just wrap up the last three series.

[00:13:53] Yeah.

[00:13:53] Sorry.

[00:13:54] Five games stretch.

[00:13:55] Five series.

[00:13:56] Yeah.

[00:13:57] They just defeated the reigning nationally champs, American league champs

[00:14:02] and the best team in baseball.

[00:14:04] They, they, they, the Braes have, you can argue been the best team

[00:14:07] in baseball for the last three seasons combined.

[00:14:09] Right?

[00:14:09] Mm hmm.

[00:14:10] They are really, really good.

[00:14:13] Mariners one all three to the three of those series.

[00:14:16] And we can like, we can firmly stamp playoff contender on this team.

[00:14:20] Like we thought it preseason first couple of weeks are Rocky, but this stretch

[00:14:26] confirms that like, I don't know.

[00:14:28] Like I don't know if we're quite to the world series contender yet, but playoff

[00:14:32] contender.

[00:14:33] Yeah.

[00:14:33] Absolutely.

[00:14:35] No team with a pitching staff this good that has his stretches

[00:14:38] like this historic stretches like this on the mound.

[00:14:41] Like they rarely miss the playoffs.

[00:14:44] I mean under 10% of the time if you go year by year and look at

[00:14:48] the best ER eat, ERA teams in baseball, they're almost always

[00:14:53] in the playoffs and this team, I mean if they're putting up two and a half

[00:14:57] week stretches of a one for eight, one for eight ERA.

[00:15:03] That's pretty historic.

[00:15:04] By the way, you want to know a little fun nugget.

[00:15:06] I was curious some of the, the, the ERA strikeout percentage walk

[00:15:11] percentage, how that would compare to us pitchers full season.

[00:15:17] Do you know one of the closest comparisons to the Mariners pitching

[00:15:21] the last five series over a full season from one pitcher?

[00:15:25] You know what I like to say, enlighten me.

[00:15:28] 2021 Jacob DeGrom.

[00:15:32] Yeah.

[00:15:32] The, the season where if I can fill in everybody, he had a one 080 array.

[00:15:38] He struck out 45% of his batters and walked like three.

[00:15:45] Man, your channel and your inner Alex Mayer with a stat like that.

[00:15:48] I don't know how long that took you to dig it up.

[00:15:50] I'm flattered with the comparison, but Alex like clears me by a lot.

[00:15:56] Yeah.

[00:15:57] He's, he's a great Twitter follower for anybody that doesn't already follow him.

[00:16:00] He will tweet some unreal Seattle Mariners stats.

[00:16:03] But yeah, this look, we know what the rotation's done.

[00:16:07] I do want to give a little bit of, or not a little bit, a good amount

[00:16:09] of credit to this bullpen too because part of that one for eight ERA in total

[00:16:14] over these two weeks is the bullpen stars have been great.

[00:16:17] Their ERA sits at 139 combined.

[00:16:19] The bullpen ERA sits at a combined 165.

[00:16:22] And as we know, no Matt Brash still going to have to wait for an update on him.

[00:16:25] No Gregory Santos still progressing his way back.

[00:16:29] It's been everybody else.

[00:16:30] Andres Munoz continues to be Andre's Munoz, but we've talked about

[00:16:34] Gabe Spire who we love deserves a ton of credit for what he's done.

[00:16:37] He's been one of the best relievers in baseball through a month.

[00:16:40] Trent Thornton deserves a ton of credit.

[00:16:42] Somebody who basically was forgotten about all off season.

[00:16:45] When we were talking about this bullpen in the off season, nobody was

[00:16:49] really talking about Trent Thornton in spite of having a good couple of

[00:16:52] months when he got over here last year.

[00:16:54] Now he's essentially like you mentioned, taken over the bridge gap for Matt

[00:16:58] Brash and has come into those sort of situations has done an awesome job with

[00:17:02] it. Those three have really, really helped anchor things.

[00:17:06] And every guy in this bullpen currently, aside from Ryan Stannock has

[00:17:10] an ERA below three.

[00:17:12] And Stanock's one of the guys I'm least worried about.

[00:17:15] He gave up a runner to the other night.

[00:17:16] I'm sure it's going to come back down.

[00:17:18] We know how good Ryan Stannock is.

[00:17:20] The rest of the bullpen, including the guys toward the back, Cody Bolton,

[00:17:23] Tyson Miller, all have ERAs below three.

[00:17:28] All of them.

[00:17:29] It's pretty good.

[00:17:31] Pretty good.

[00:17:31] That's a pretty solid group of guys.

[00:17:35] There's no weakness on this pitching staff.

[00:17:38] And the only thing that will hamper this staff is injury.

[00:17:40] It is not going to be stuff.

[00:17:42] It is not going to be talent.

[00:17:44] It is not going to be strike throwing ability.

[00:17:47] That injury is it.

[00:17:49] If these guys stay healthy and they get a Gregory Santos back playoff contender

[00:17:55] right now, playoff contender, we can almost certainly say that.

[00:17:59] I think, I think they're a playoff contender right now.

[00:18:02] Obviously if they get Santos back, they take another step.

[00:18:05] And yeah, like their playoff contender now, if they get Santos back,

[00:18:09] it just takes them a notch above where they're already at.

[00:18:11] And part of this is delusion on my end, I'm sure.

[00:18:16] And part of because I just love watching Matt Brash, I'm still trying to hold

[00:18:18] on to the somewhere between the three to 5% hope that maybe some positive news

[00:18:23] comes back where if he gives it another couple of weeks, weeks,

[00:18:26] rested, tries to ramp it up again, maybe he can get back healthy.

[00:18:29] Of course, I'm not expecting that, but I'm trying to hold out

[00:18:32] some real, real hope of any light of positivity that I can that maybe

[00:18:38] we'll see him back this year because obviously if he gets back,

[00:18:40] bullpen takes another step.

[00:18:42] Yeah, I really hope so.

[00:18:43] So I think we're both cross-nurse fingers.

[00:18:45] Then, I mean, like you said, then we can circle back on a storyline

[00:18:49] and are we like we could actually seriously consider if this is the best

[00:18:53] bullpen in Mariners history.

[00:18:54] We could have have a little bit more fun with that.

[00:18:56] I think we both think perceive that right now, but when we actually

[00:19:00] see everyone locked and loaded in that bullpen, I think that would be

[00:19:03] a I think that'll be a pretty fun discussion to have.

[00:19:06] Before we get to our second storyline, let's hear a word from

[00:19:10] Game Time.

[00:19:11] Summer is right around the corner, which means heading out to the ballpark

[00:19:14] in that warm weather is also around the corner.

[00:19:16] When thinking about how you're going to get your tickets to the park,

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[00:21:28] Okay, let's get to our second storyline.

[00:21:31] How are we feeling about Mitch Garver?

[00:21:36] Obviously not thrilled that he struggled so much

[00:21:38] in the first month.

[00:21:39] Obviously we love the walkoff home run on Monday.

[00:21:42] Long term, I think he's gonna be fine.

[00:21:44] I think this is just a slow start,

[00:21:47] but for a guy that is expected to be arguably

[00:21:51] the second most valuable hitter behind Julio,

[00:21:54] it has been tough to watch at times

[00:21:56] and see to him go through what he's gone through

[00:21:58] in month number one in Seattle.

[00:22:01] If you're gonna rank your confidence, he bounces back

[00:22:04] for the rest of the season on a scale of one to 10.

[00:22:06] What is it?

[00:22:08] I'll still say seven or eight.

[00:22:10] And I say that because if you look at Garver's splits

[00:22:12] throughout his career, March and April

[00:22:14] have historically been just about his worst month.

[00:22:17] I think his worst month is June

[00:22:20] and that almost feels a little fluky,

[00:22:22] but it does show that after the month of April,

[00:22:24] he will often heat up as time goes on.

[00:22:26] As the weather heats up, Mitch Garver can heat up.

[00:22:29] Another reason why I think he's gonna be fine,

[00:22:31] he's also such a proven hitter

[00:22:32] and has been throughout his career

[00:22:34] that to see him just totally fall off

[00:22:35] would be pretty surprising.

[00:22:38] But if you wanna look at the flip side,

[00:22:41] there are some alarming numbers

[00:22:42] that we're gonna dive into.

[00:22:44] Really alarming.

[00:22:45] He's not hitting any line drives this year.

[00:22:47] You only get on base, hit a line drive.

[00:22:50] You know, Mitch Garver's a pull,

[00:22:51] he's a pull side fly ball hitter,

[00:22:54] but it doesn't mean you can't hit line drives

[00:22:55] and he's hit line drives in his career.

[00:22:57] His line drive rates like 10%, 10%.

[00:23:03] So with that, what's your confidence level?

[00:23:05] He turns it around.

[00:23:07] Probably six, a little bit lower.

[00:23:09] There are some really alarming things here.

[00:23:12] Like he is chasing way more than he ever has,

[00:23:16] like not even close.

[00:23:17] Like when I said outlier bad in our first storyline,

[00:23:19] I mean it truly is outlier bad.

[00:23:22] It is, if you look on a Savant page,

[00:23:24] it's outlier bad and quality of contact,

[00:23:27] expected batting average, expected slugging percentage,

[00:23:31] expected ISO, like all the expected

[00:23:33] quality of contact stats.

[00:23:35] His max exit below is way down this year.

[00:23:40] So like there are some really concerning signs

[00:23:45] that not only is the ball not getting hit very hard

[00:23:48] but the zone is getting expanded significantly

[00:23:52] and on those swings he's making significantly less contact.

[00:23:55] That is a recipe for a disaster season.

[00:23:58] All of those things combined

[00:24:00] and it doesn't make much sense.

[00:24:02] What about T-Mobile Park turns Mitch Garver

[00:24:06] into all of a sudden a chase happy swing and mishitter?

[00:24:10] What about it?

[00:24:11] So fun fact, it doesn't.

[00:24:14] Mitch Garver is actually hitting way better at home

[00:24:16] than on the road.

[00:24:17] He currently is holding a 719 OPS at T-Mobile Park.

[00:24:21] He's got a 358 OPS on the road,

[00:24:25] which maybe that's flukey,

[00:24:27] but it is interesting considering some of the road ballparks

[00:24:30] they've been in so far.

[00:24:31] Texas, which he's very familiar with,

[00:24:33] Colorado supposed to be a hitters park

[00:24:35] although the weather was bad.

[00:24:37] They've been in some road ballparks so far

[00:24:38] that shouldn't be that hard to hit in

[00:24:41] but he hasn't hit in them.

[00:24:43] Do you think that home road thing is flukey

[00:24:44] because he's actually hit better in Seattle?

[00:24:47] Maybe he'll enjoy the Crawford Boxes this weekend.

[00:24:50] That would be nice.

[00:24:51] He can get a couple of cheap home runs.

[00:24:52] He pops one up and hits a couple into those Crawford Boxes

[00:24:56] because at the rate he's going,

[00:24:59] he's also like on Statcast's qualification

[00:25:03] of quote unquote meatball pitches.

[00:25:06] He's also swinging at way less of those

[00:25:08] like the best kind of pitch to hit.

[00:25:10] He's swinging at way less.

[00:25:12] So the whole profile is messed up

[00:25:14] on what the Mariners I think thought they were getting

[00:25:17] in Mitch Garver and through a month of April

[00:25:20] he looks like a completely different hitter

[00:25:22] than the one that was in Texas last year.

[00:25:25] But don't you think some of this should turn around?

[00:25:27] He's in the first percentile right now

[00:25:29] an expected batting average.

[00:25:31] And like you said, a bunch of the quality

[00:25:32] of contact stuff way more drastic than it was.

[00:25:35] You could highlight a bunch of these.

[00:25:37] I'll just highlight one

[00:25:38] and you could pick a whole different number of them.

[00:25:42] But when you look at for example,

[00:25:44] his expected slugging,

[00:25:47] it was in the 87th percentile last year.

[00:25:49] It's in the eighth percentile right now.

[00:25:51] Don't you think some of that should turn around?

[00:25:52] That just doesn't make any sense for somebody

[00:25:54] to go from a 138 WRC plus like he did last year

[00:25:57] to now where he's at currently holding a 143 average

[00:26:01] with three home runs of 553 OPS

[00:26:03] and a 67 WRC plus through the first month.

[00:26:06] Should it actually happens?

[00:26:08] Sorry, go ahead.

[00:26:09] No, just I'm saying shouldn't it turn around?

[00:26:12] If it doesn't, they should make a 30 for 30

[00:26:14] on his season this year.

[00:26:16] I think it would be fascinating.

[00:26:18] You know what I find fast?

[00:26:19] Yeah, I'll go ahead.

[00:26:21] But I think the main thing here,

[00:26:24] so he actually hit fastballs.

[00:26:25] Okay, not at the rate he did last year,

[00:26:27] but he's been fine against fastballs this year,

[00:26:30] which is his bread and butter.

[00:26:31] And I think most hitters, if there's one pitch,

[00:26:34] they're certainly gonna hit, they hit fastballs.

[00:26:37] So when sort of the thought that comes into my head

[00:26:41] of bat speed and worrying about his bat slowing down,

[00:26:44] I think his swings against fastballs would be,

[00:26:48] he would be noticeable, right?

[00:26:49] But he's again, he's still been fine against fastballs.

[00:26:51] So even if his bat speed has slowed down a tiny bit

[00:26:55] since last year as he gets another year into his 30s,

[00:26:59] I just don't know if we can all like 100% say that

[00:27:03] because he's done exactly nothing

[00:27:05] against any sort of spin pitch this year,

[00:27:07] any breaking pitch, absolutely nothing.

[00:27:11] I was gonna get into it too.

[00:27:13] When you look at what he's done

[00:27:15] of all pitches not named foreseam fastballs,

[00:27:18] it's really been a struggle.

[00:27:20] Like really, really, really, really,

[00:27:22] it's like Colton Wong levels of last year.

[00:27:25] He's seeing sliders 30% of the time right now,

[00:27:28] which is the pitch he's seeing the most

[00:27:31] of any pitch right now.

[00:27:32] He's hitting 0.91 against sliders.

[00:27:35] And if you look at his, what he's doing against sinkers,

[00:27:38] that's the pitch he's seeing the third most.

[00:27:39] He's getting sliders the most,

[00:27:41] foreseamers at second and sinkers third.

[00:27:45] He has not gotten a single hit

[00:27:47] against the sinker yet this year.

[00:27:48] He's in 17 different plate appearances this year,

[00:27:51] seen sinkers, he doesn't have a hit against one yet.

[00:27:54] Last year, he didn't seem to have issues at all

[00:27:56] with any of this off speed stuff or any of this spin stuff.

[00:27:59] He was best against fastballs.

[00:28:01] That's what Garber's done most of his career

[00:28:02] is he's crushed the heater,

[00:28:04] but he held his own against all those other pitches

[00:28:06] so he could get more fastballs in the zone

[00:28:08] and he'd take advantage of it.

[00:28:10] Right now like you just talked about,

[00:28:11] he's still hitting fastballs for the most part.

[00:28:13] It's everything else he's struggling against.

[00:28:15] And honestly, if you want to try to speculate

[00:28:18] as to why maybe he's not crushing fastballs more,

[00:28:21] I heard Ryan Divish talk about this

[00:28:22] on foul territory today here on Thursday.

[00:28:25] So many of these Mariners are now getting pitched

[00:28:27] with so much spin and teams like the Red Sox

[00:28:30] like we saw in the first weekend and others

[00:28:32] have this whole spin to win philosophy

[00:28:33] against the Mariners by attacking them

[00:28:35] with a bunch of breaking balls.

[00:28:37] I do wonder if guys are now late on fastballs

[00:28:39] because they're expecting spin

[00:28:41] and Garber could be included in that.

[00:28:43] There's been so many breaking balls,

[00:28:44] they have to gear up for it

[00:28:45] and then they're late on heaters.

[00:28:47] And Garber's whole thing is pulling fastballs

[00:28:49] and you can't pull a fastball if you're sitting spin.

[00:28:53] Right, right.

[00:28:54] So like what do you do?

[00:28:56] Like he has first of all,

[00:28:58] he has to be out there in the lineup.

[00:29:00] He's making a lot of money in Mariners standards.

[00:29:03] He's your DH.

[00:29:05] He's not gonna go behind the plate.

[00:29:07] He's not gonna go out and play in the field.

[00:29:09] He is going to sit in the lineup in the DH spot

[00:29:11] and he's gonna hit

[00:29:12] and he's already gotten moved as low as seventh in the lineup.

[00:29:15] You can't drop him any further than that

[00:29:17] because I don't know if you drop a hitter

[00:29:20] like Mitch Garver deeper in the lineup than that

[00:29:23] just based off of how he runs

[00:29:25] and how he handles himself on the base pads.

[00:29:28] Like what do they do?

[00:29:31] You just have to keep playing him.

[00:29:33] You have to bet on what you know

[00:29:34] and you have to bet on his track record

[00:29:37] that he's gonna turn this thing around.

[00:29:38] First off, I don't know if there's anybody on the bench

[00:29:41] or anybody currently in Tacoma

[00:29:42] that could really come up

[00:29:44] and make that big of a difference right now.

[00:29:47] And as a result, say to Garver,

[00:29:49] you're gonna get less playing time.

[00:29:50] First off, I think that's irresponsible

[00:29:52] but second of all,

[00:29:53] I don't think there's anybody you could pull up

[00:29:54] from AAA right now

[00:29:56] that could really take a big jump forward.

[00:29:59] You have got to bet on what you know

[00:30:01] and who he's been as a player in years past

[00:30:03] and bank that he's gonna turn this thing around.

[00:30:05] Here's an example too.

[00:30:06] We just talked about

[00:30:07] how he's a slow starter a lot of the time.

[00:30:09] Let's first off what he's,

[00:30:10] see what he does in the month of May.

[00:30:12] But last year in Texas, it was flipped.

[00:30:16] He had a great April, crushed it.

[00:30:18] He had a tough May.

[00:30:19] So his first two months, you saw different results.

[00:30:22] June and on, he hit the ground running

[00:30:24] when he was on the field.

[00:30:26] But he had a slow April this year.

[00:30:28] He's had slow April's in the past.

[00:30:30] Let's see what he does in May.

[00:30:32] Like let's come back to this on June 1st

[00:30:35] and see where Mitch Garver's at.

[00:30:36] If it's two straight months of struggling,

[00:30:39] yeah, there's gonna be more alarms going off

[00:30:42] for concern in everybody's head.

[00:30:43] But let's see what he does in May.

[00:30:45] He's gotten warmed up now.

[00:30:46] I think this doesn't get talked about

[00:30:49] and it can't be quantified.

[00:30:50] I do think coming into a new organization

[00:30:52] with a new hitting philosophy

[00:30:53] does take some time to adjust to as well.

[00:30:55] That could be a part of it.

[00:30:56] But let's see where he's at on June 1st

[00:30:58] because you know what?

[00:30:59] He's still walking.

[00:31:00] He's still walking about 11% of the time.

[00:31:03] And it's not everything

[00:31:05] but you have seen a little more power

[00:31:07] from him come to life over the last seven games or so.

[00:31:09] He had to walk off on Monday night.

[00:31:11] He started to pull a couple more baseballs.

[00:31:12] Scott Service says he's starting to like

[00:31:14] what he sees out of Garver a lot more.

[00:31:17] Maybe things will turn around.

[00:31:18] If I were to bet again,

[00:31:19] my concern level with Mitch Garver right now

[00:31:20] is not that high.

[00:31:21] I don't, like nobody's thrilled

[00:31:23] that he had a slow April

[00:31:24] but I think he's gonna turn it around.

[00:31:27] And if you're the Mariners,

[00:31:28] you can't just sit them down after a month.

[00:31:30] You have to bet on that he's gonna turn around.

[00:31:32] And like you said,

[00:31:33] you don't really have any other options.

[00:31:34] You're not better by putting someone else in his spot.

[00:31:37] Mike Ford asked for his release.

[00:31:39] Some people are like, hey, look at that.

[00:31:40] I don't think the Mariners are better

[00:31:42] with Mike Ford right now than they are with Mitch Garver.

[00:31:44] I don't think it helps him either though

[00:31:46] that, I mean, he was sitting clean up at times this week.

[00:31:49] That like the fact that there is not enough

[00:31:51] consistent production with the six best WRC plus lineup

[00:31:55] in baseball the last five series of the season

[00:32:00] that he still needs to move up

[00:32:01] and hit cleanup sometimes, right?

[00:32:04] Like that's not,

[00:32:05] I don't think it's a total help

[00:32:06] for someone who's not really seen the ball

[00:32:08] as well as other guys.

[00:32:10] And it would certainly help if Jorge Plonco

[00:32:14] or Ty France or Julio Rodriguez

[00:32:16] or if J.B. Crawford was healthy,

[00:32:18] any of those guys are in the lineup

[00:32:19] and absolutely raking and pitchers

[00:32:22] thinking about something else besides,

[00:32:24] oh, like most of this lineup is still swinging

[00:32:26] and missing a lot.

[00:32:27] Let's junk it up, right?

[00:32:29] It's sort of like what happened last year

[00:32:31] when the team was off to a slow offensive start.

[00:32:34] Most guys were struggling.

[00:32:35] So it was like, well, okay.

[00:32:37] Like don't have to really worry about anyone specifically.

[00:32:41] And for the most part, strikeout wise,

[00:32:43] it's the same thing this year.

[00:32:45] They really do just need one guy to truly get going.

[00:32:49] Look what happened when Julio started

[00:32:51] to have all those multi-hit games

[00:32:52] over that small stretch throughout

[00:32:54] this five series win streak.

[00:32:56] Started to see a lot of wins.

[00:32:57] Started to see the team change a little bit.

[00:32:59] I'm sure Julio is gonna get going here soon,

[00:33:02] but you just need one more guy to get going

[00:33:04] because if one more guy can take some of the pressure

[00:33:06] off the rest of the lineup,

[00:33:08] you're gonna see contagious hitting

[00:33:11] because these guys wear it.

[00:33:12] We've heard service talk about this too.

[00:33:14] You know it's on Garver right now.

[00:33:17] You know he's probably taken it hard

[00:33:19] because he knows he's such a good hitter

[00:33:21] and he knows what he can do for this team

[00:33:22] when he's at his best

[00:33:23] and he knows he's not at his best right now.

[00:33:25] So if just one of these guys starts to get going,

[00:33:28] you could see a lot of difference

[00:33:29] he made throughout the lineup.

[00:33:30] So whether it's Garver, whether it's Talonco,

[00:33:32] whether it's Typhrance,

[00:33:33] Hanager getting going against somebody

[00:33:35] really just getting on a heater.

[00:33:36] It's gonna help a lot.

[00:33:37] Is there one thing that you're thinking to see

[00:33:41] from Garver's game that would necessitate

[00:33:44] a turnaround more?

[00:33:44] Would it be striking out less,

[00:33:46] hitting more home runs, hitting more line drives?

[00:33:48] What would it be?

[00:33:50] The line drive thing is probably what's most apparent

[00:33:53] and his fly ball rates also down too.

[00:33:56] His ground ball rates weigh up.

[00:33:57] His fly ball rate and line drive rate are down

[00:33:59] which signals he's not hitting the ball

[00:34:01] that hard right now.

[00:34:01] I think the hard hit rates going up

[00:34:03] would be a big signal of that.

[00:34:05] The strikeouts, look, you don't want anybody striking out,

[00:34:08] but one, you can live with strikeouts

[00:34:11] if you hit the ball hard

[00:34:12] and you hit it with authority a lot,

[00:34:13] but also Mitch Garver has never been a career

[00:34:16] 30% or above strikeout guy.

[00:34:18] I don't think that's gonna last.

[00:34:19] So you could pick either one of those things.

[00:34:21] For me, it's probably hitting the ball hard.

[00:34:24] Yeah, I would say, yeah, probably that,

[00:34:27] but I think for the most part,

[00:34:30] I just wanna see some more homers.

[00:34:31] So we saw the Homer on Monday, more of that.

[00:34:33] That is the kind of hitter he is.

[00:34:36] Like hitting the ball in the air with authority

[00:34:39] would be great.

[00:34:40] We haven't seen it all that much this season.

[00:34:42] That swing on Monday was great.

[00:34:44] Let's see more stuff like that

[00:34:46] because that's exactly what you wanna see.

[00:34:48] Damage pitch, damage result.

[00:34:51] For sure.

[00:34:53] Okay, as we start to transition here,

[00:34:55] let's go down on the farm.

[00:34:59] TJ, minor league stand out of the week.

[00:35:01] Who you got?

[00:35:03] Speaking of guys who are not really struggling

[00:35:06] at the plate, Harry Ford has just been taking

[00:35:10] a weed whacker to double A.

[00:35:12] He had a pretty bad first week, like really, really bad.

[00:35:15] Like hitting under 050 bad level of Arkansas.

[00:35:21] Since then, since the 12th of April,

[00:35:24] he has a 462 on base percentage, just Harry Ford.

[00:35:28] He has an OPS of nearly 1,000,

[00:35:31] walking 22% of the time, striking out just 16%

[00:35:37] of the time, wrote down six, but I think it's 16.

[00:35:39] And then his last nine games, he has a 533 on base

[00:35:42] and a 1,300 OPS.

[00:35:44] Like ridiculous stuff from Harry Ford.

[00:35:47] 462 on base.

[00:35:49] Let's just put some perspective here.

[00:35:51] The kind of hitter Harry Ford has been

[00:35:53] in his minor league career.

[00:35:54] He's been about a 130, a 135 WRC plus guy

[00:35:58] in the minor leagues at all levels.

[00:36:00] He had a pretty good short stint and complex league ball

[00:36:03] at age 18 right after he got drafted.

[00:36:05] But after that, it's been around a 135 WRC plus.

[00:36:11] It's been at 176 since April 12th in double A.

[00:36:16] You know, moving up a level against tougher competition,

[00:36:19] he is torching double A pitchers.

[00:36:24] It's good to see.

[00:36:25] We're seeing some really good offensive performances

[00:36:27] in a tough hitting environment down there in Arkansas.

[00:36:30] So good for Harry.

[00:36:32] Congrats to the Brit and the Mariners organization.

[00:36:36] It's hard going from high A to double A.

[00:36:38] It's the hardest jump aside from the big leagues.

[00:36:40] So to see Harry Ford start slow

[00:36:42] in that first week like he did, it's not that surprising.

[00:36:44] Cole Young's not lighting the world on fire

[00:36:46] in Arkansas yet either.

[00:36:47] Those guys are so young.

[00:36:49] They're jumping up to the hardest level of the minors.

[00:36:50] They're making the biggest jump.

[00:36:52] But now to see Harry Ford coming around,

[00:36:54] he's getting back to the player.

[00:36:55] He's always been in the minors and it's awesome to see.

[00:36:58] So Harry Ford didn't take home any superlatives

[00:37:01] this month for the Mariners.

[00:37:02] There are a couple of guys who did

[00:37:03] and I wanted to highlight them for my Mariners minor leaguer

[00:37:07] or I should say minor leaguer's

[00:37:08] for on the farm segment this week

[00:37:10] because there were some guys who took home some awards.

[00:37:13] They gave out their players in the month.

[00:37:15] Caleb Calley,

[00:37:16] who most of you probably don't know that name yet.

[00:37:19] 16th round pick last year out of Arkansas

[00:37:22] rushed it in Modesto through the first month.

[00:37:24] He was named the Mariners minor league player of the month.

[00:37:27] Jonathan Diaz was named the Mariners minor league pitcher

[00:37:30] of the month who had an awesome month in Tacoma.

[00:37:32] And then Jesse Wayne Scott was named the reliever

[00:37:34] of the month in the Mariners organization.

[00:37:36] So just wanted to highlight a couple of those guys.

[00:37:38] Calley, he's leading the Calley average right now.

[00:37:41] He's hitting over 400 through the first month,

[00:37:43] which is crazy because when you look

[00:37:45] at this Modesto lineup, who are you gonna think of?

[00:37:47] You're gonna think of all the blue chip prospects,

[00:37:48] obviously, Colt Emerson, Taipe, Johnny Farmello,

[00:37:51] Lizarra Montez, Michael Arroyo.

[00:37:53] It's so easy to get caught up with all them.

[00:37:55] And then you remember, oh,

[00:37:57] there's other guys in this lineup

[00:37:59] that are still crushing the baseball,

[00:38:02] including the guy that now just won

[00:38:03] Mariners minor league player of the month in Calley.

[00:38:05] So pretty cool to see on that end.

[00:38:07] And with Jonathan Diaz, a guy who has big league time

[00:38:10] and had an awesome month in Tacoma,

[00:38:12] another positive sign for the Mariners,

[00:38:13] showing that while last year,

[00:38:15] they needed a lot of pitching depth

[00:38:17] to get him through the year.

[00:38:18] They may actually have some this year

[00:38:20] because all of a sudden when Brian Wu gets back,

[00:38:23] you'll have Emerson Hancock,

[00:38:25] you'll have Jonathan Diaz,

[00:38:26] you'll have Levi Stout.

[00:38:27] Those guys will all presumably be in AAA.

[00:38:30] And then as the year goes on,

[00:38:31] as we've talked about, there's guys like Logan Evans

[00:38:33] and Reeban Scooter who could be available too.

[00:38:34] So to see some real depth being built

[00:38:37] in the Mariners system pitching wise, it's awesome.

[00:38:40] Yeah, and it was a real war.

[00:38:41] Did you mention Dallas?

[00:38:43] Oh, and Dallas-Copo, there's another.

[00:38:45] Right, yeah.

[00:38:47] And something that was a worry

[00:38:49] almost doesn't seem like quite as much.

[00:38:52] Now, maybe not an offer in the upside

[00:38:53] of a top 100 prospect at that level,

[00:38:56] but still like guys who can eat up big league innings.

[00:38:59] It's cool for those guys.

[00:39:00] I mean, how do you pitch that to that Modesto lineup?

[00:39:03] So like for example, like this is a deep cut.

[00:39:05] I was looking up some kid I saw in the West Coast League

[00:39:08] and the West Coast League is played here on the West Coast.

[00:39:09] Summer Collegiate League

[00:39:11] in Oregon, Washington, Canada, et cetera.

[00:39:13] And there's this kid, Jacob Sharpe,

[00:39:15] who in the first summer I was down here,

[00:39:17] I was like, you know, I checked the box

[00:39:19] where he had a pretty unbelievable year

[00:39:21] down there in the West Coast League.

[00:39:22] He played at UNLV.

[00:39:23] He's in Modesto now too,

[00:39:24] and he's also got an OPS of almost 1,000.

[00:39:26] You've ever heard of Jacob Sharpe?

[00:39:28] I'm gonna be honest with you, not really.

[00:39:31] And I feel like I'm a Mariners ball knower.

[00:39:33] Right, right.

[00:39:35] He's almost got a 1,000 OPS down there too.

[00:39:38] He's slugging like well over 600.

[00:39:42] Aside from Norfolk,

[00:39:43] is that the best team in the minor leagues?

[00:39:46] It might be.

[00:39:47] It's at least the second best offense

[00:39:49] in the minor leagues behind Norfolk.

[00:39:51] Like league adjusted, I assume.

[00:39:53] Yeah.

[00:39:54] Yeah, probably.

[00:39:55] Yeah, to be honest,

[00:39:56] if you're any like 18 or 19 year old arm,

[00:39:59] I'm not sure how you face that lineup.

[00:40:00] Like that seems like a bit of a tough task

[00:40:03] for someone who's probably working on his slider command

[00:40:07] and all of a sudden you're like,

[00:40:08] oh, first round pick, first round pick,

[00:40:11] $4 million signing bonus internationally,

[00:40:14] 1,000 OPS.

[00:40:16] Oh wait, and then this the eight guy in the lineup.

[00:40:19] Oh, he just won organizational player of the month.

[00:40:21] You know what we didn't even mention either?

[00:40:24] Is Luis Suisbell who was on our minor league award winner,

[00:40:27] like on this show,

[00:40:28] we gave some on the farm awards too last year,

[00:40:31] who's still a Modesto

[00:40:32] and is also still crushing the baseball.

[00:40:35] There is literally no weakness in that lineup,

[00:40:37] one through nine.

[00:40:39] I'm not saying Modesto's some tourist attraction,

[00:40:42] but if you're in the area and you're a Mariners fan,

[00:40:44] I would go and see a Modesto nuts game.

[00:40:47] If Modesto, if the Cowleague stretched out more

[00:40:49] and got closer to the Pacific Northwest,

[00:40:51] oh, I'd go and see them.

[00:40:52] And I'll tell you what,

[00:40:53] when this whole group gets up to Everett,

[00:40:55] I'm definitely going to see these guys.

[00:40:57] Good stuff.

[00:40:58] Let's get to our Russell Wilson umpire of the week.

[00:41:01] So this umpire that we've decided on this week,

[00:41:04] mentioned him a little bit earlier,

[00:41:06] will be very familiar to most Mariners fans

[00:41:09] watching Wednesday's baseball game against the Braves.

[00:41:12] Congratulations to Nick Lentz for somehow

[00:41:16] inventing his own strike zone.

[00:41:18] I mean, congratulations.

[00:41:20] I'm taking a look at Nick Lentz's umpire scorecard, Lyle.

[00:41:24] Not only did Mr. Lentz, who was behind the plate again

[00:41:27] for Wednesday's Mariners Braves game,

[00:41:29] only an 80% called strike accuracy, 80%.

[00:41:33] So you know how they do like the red

[00:41:35] of what they, of the like perceived strike zone is

[00:41:38] based on the calls he made, right?

[00:41:40] The red box outside the actual square box.

[00:41:44] Well, he essentially just ignored the top rail

[00:41:46] of the strike zone and instead stretched

[00:41:47] the strike zone out horizontally like this on both sides.

[00:41:51] Where he's like, you know what?

[00:41:52] I'm actually going to flip.

[00:41:53] Let's take the rectangle of the strike zone

[00:41:55] and let's flip it like this.

[00:41:56] Let's flip it around 90 degrees.

[00:41:59] And that's going to be my strike zone today

[00:42:01] because I think that's what Nick Lentz decided to do

[00:42:04] when Chris Sale would flip a backdoor slider

[00:42:07] six inches off the plate that was called strike two,

[00:42:10] a strike two multiple Mariners hitters.

[00:42:12] And to sales credit, he took, well,

[00:42:15] he took pretty good advantage of that spot.

[00:42:18] Nick Lentz had an 80% accuracy score

[00:42:23] on strikes on Wednesday.

[00:42:25] That's 8% below Lee average, which spoiler is bad.

[00:42:30] He gave the Atlanta Braves a run and a half yesterday.

[00:42:34] These umpire scorecards track out

[00:42:36] how many runs you're umpiring

[00:42:38] and you're game calling Babers a certain team.

[00:42:41] He gave nearly a run and a half to the Atlanta Braves.

[00:42:45] The Braves probably still win that game yesterday,

[00:42:48] but get the automated strike zone

[00:42:50] or the challenge system up to the big leagues, man.

[00:42:52] Like it's time.

[00:42:54] I'm sick of it.

[00:42:55] Every week we do this.

[00:42:56] Like we almost put ourselves

[00:42:57] through self torture every week doing this segment.

[00:43:00] What is it going to take

[00:43:01] to get the challenge system up here?

[00:43:04] It would solve a lot of problems.

[00:43:06] We need to figure out how to fill this time in the segment.

[00:43:09] What do we do instead?

[00:43:13] Our Russell Wilson robo call of the week.

[00:43:15] Ooh, I kind of like that.

[00:43:18] You know, it's honestly still works out though

[00:43:20] with Russ because he is kind of a robot.

[00:43:24] Oh, he's robotic.

[00:43:25] His answers are extremely calculated

[00:43:27] to every question he gets asked.

[00:43:28] So yeah.

[00:43:29] So instead of being Russell Wilson levels of cringe

[00:43:31] or just Russell Wilson levels of robotic

[00:43:34] where you call a pitch like two feet outside

[00:43:37] that's clearly not a strike or strike.

[00:43:39] And then everyone laughs at you

[00:43:40] when the scoreboard corrects you

[00:43:43] and shows you how far outside the pitch actually was.

[00:43:45] Yeah, there we go.

[00:43:47] If we get to robo once one day

[00:43:49] or the challenge system,

[00:43:50] we can change the segment of this show.

[00:43:52] And you know, I really hope we do

[00:43:54] because that will mean

[00:43:55] there is some technology implemented

[00:43:58] to balls and strikes calling.

[00:43:59] It's time to get it right people.

[00:44:01] We're not watching anymore Nick Len's outings.

[00:44:04] It's not fair to the hitters.

[00:44:05] It's not fair to the pitchers.

[00:44:07] It's ridiculous.

[00:44:08] Ah, man.

[00:44:10] All right.

[00:44:11] On a better note,

[00:44:12] let's move on and close out the show with Speak Your Mind.

[00:44:15] Speak your mind Spock.

[00:44:20] That would be unwise.

[00:44:22] What is necessary is never unwise.

[00:44:26] So what are you thinking about this week?

[00:44:29] Well, I'm feeling a little nostalgic this week, Lyle

[00:44:32] because I feel like a chapter in our childhood is closing.

[00:44:36] So we're big Star Wars fans, obviously.

[00:44:37] We've talked quite a bit about Star Wars on this segment,

[00:44:42] but I seem to recall

[00:44:44] when we've talked about the Star Wars cartoons

[00:44:46] on this segment, it's been mostly me not you

[00:44:48] as you haven't seen as many of the cartoons.

[00:44:51] Well, they're ending as of Wednesday.

[00:44:53] They ended the final episode

[00:44:55] of all of the Star Wars prequel cartoons.

[00:44:59] Prequel meaning before episode four,

[00:45:01] before New Hope.

[00:45:03] They're all done.

[00:45:04] All of the prequel era content is done.

[00:45:08] And, you know, it's kind of sad

[00:45:11] because I think you and I think like that's all

[00:45:13] you could argue that's the best era

[00:45:15] of sort of Star Wars content they ever made.

[00:45:19] Whereas all the stuff around the first three episodes

[00:45:21] like the three episodes themselves,

[00:45:24] but then all the shows in and around them

[00:45:27] and now we're done.

[00:45:28] Unfortunately, with the last episode of The Bad Batch,

[00:45:32] which is a like playoff of the Clone Wars,

[00:45:36] that went through three seasons and it's now done

[00:45:39] after all these episodes.

[00:45:42] I still haven't seen the finale by the way,

[00:45:43] so I'm not, I don't worry, I won't spoil anything,

[00:45:45] but it's kind of sad.

[00:45:47] I'm kind of sad because it has been some

[00:45:50] of my favorite television I've ever watched

[00:45:51] and it's now no longer.

[00:45:56] I'm probably overdue to watch these.

[00:45:58] Again, I've seen some of the Clone Wars,

[00:46:00] I've seen a couple episodes of Bad Batch,

[00:46:01] mostly I've watched the live action stuff for Star Wars,

[00:46:04] which is a lot of content,

[00:46:05] which is a lot of shows and movies,

[00:46:07] but I haven't watched as much of The Clone Wars

[00:46:10] and Bad Batch.

[00:46:10] It's all my list of things to watch

[00:46:12] and I really should.

[00:46:13] I need to carve out some time to do it.

[00:46:15] It is a lot if you tally up all the Clone Wars episodes

[00:46:18] and all of The Bad Batch episodes,

[00:46:19] I mean, you're well over 100.

[00:46:22] I don't know the final tally, but there are a lot.

[00:46:25] There are a lot of episodes,

[00:46:28] so I don't think you'll lack the resources to go

[00:46:31] find some good ones.

[00:46:32] Right, I know there's also people out there

[00:46:34] that say not every episode of The Clone Wars

[00:46:36] is absolutely necessary to watch

[00:46:38] and there's lists out there saying

[00:46:39] here's every necessary episode to go and consume.

[00:46:43] So maybe I'll do that and then watch Bad Batch

[00:46:45] or something like that.

[00:46:47] So now we just get to wait for the next episodes

[00:46:51] on Disney, which are all way in the future.

[00:46:54] So yeah, but that's.

[00:46:58] And what is the next piece of Star Wars content to come out?

[00:47:00] Is it the new season?

[00:47:01] Is it Mando?

[00:47:02] It's a good question. I think it's Andorra.

[00:47:04] I think it's Andorra.

[00:47:04] I'm not totally sure.

[00:47:06] The next thing like actually on the timeline,

[00:47:09] I think is Andorra, which technically counts.

[00:47:12] I guess that technically does count as prequel,

[00:47:14] but a prequel cartoon stuff is.

[00:47:17] No, actually, no, it's not prequel because that is.

[00:47:21] Post episode three.

[00:47:23] Right.

[00:47:24] Hmm.

[00:47:27] Yeah, I don't know what that counts as.

[00:47:28] Yeah, I don't know what that counts is,

[00:47:30] but it is kind of a unique show and an end of its own.

[00:47:32] So right.

[00:47:33] None of the goofy Star Wars characters.

[00:47:35] It's it's actually actually seems like it has some semblance

[00:47:38] of real life personality in it.

[00:47:41] Yeah. Yeah, yeah, for sure.

[00:47:44] OK, I've been itching to talk about this.

[00:47:47] What is it going to take?

[00:47:49] This is my speaker mind.

[00:47:50] What is it going to take for people that have a platform

[00:47:54] and decide to talk about baseball to actually educate

[00:47:59] themselves on what in the world they're talking about

[00:48:03] when you decide to dive into it?

[00:48:04] If you don't know what I'm talking about,

[00:48:06] it was another first take episode with Stephen A.

[00:48:09] Smith and Chris Russo going in on a baseball topic

[00:48:14] on the subject of Mike Trout getting injured,

[00:48:17] only to have Stephen A.

[00:48:18] Smith essentially rip into him for two and a half minutes

[00:48:22] about why he's essentially soft and how are you always injured?

[00:48:27] This is baseball.

[00:48:28] This isn't boxing.

[00:48:29] It's not UFC.

[00:48:30] It's baseball.

[00:48:31] How are you always injured as if Mike Trout was battling

[00:48:35] through a sore foot or something?

[00:48:38] No, he tore his meniscus in his knee.

[00:48:41] Stephen A. Smith, the same guy who missed two months

[00:48:44] of shows because he had shoulder surgery when

[00:48:47] he does half his shows remotely,

[00:48:49] decides to trash on Mike Trout for quote, unquote,

[00:48:52] always being injured.

[00:48:54] I beg people that have a platform

[00:48:57] and decide to talk about baseball

[00:49:00] to educate themselves on what they're talking about.

[00:49:03] There's a lot of layers to this.

[00:49:05] First of all, Stephen A. obviously,

[00:49:08] he doesn't watch a lot of baseball.

[00:49:10] He focuses on the NBA and the NFL as he should.

[00:49:12] Those are the moneymakers.

[00:49:13] That's what ESPN and more specifically,

[00:49:16] First Take focuses on.

[00:49:17] That's his show.

[00:49:18] It's his namesake on the show.

[00:49:20] He has almost become bigger than the show itself.

[00:49:22] We've seen that with his podcast

[00:49:24] and his social media presence online.

[00:49:26] He is essentially an independent personality now.

[00:49:30] He draws on name alone.

[00:49:32] And because of that, he can get away with lazy takes,

[00:49:37] right?

[00:49:38] Because regardless of what he says,

[00:49:39] even if he nails the trout take 100%,

[00:49:44] it's still gonna generate a bunch of feedback always.

[00:49:51] But as you know with shows like First Take,

[00:49:55] they're not gonna talk about Mike Trout

[00:49:57] unless Stephen A. is ripping him.

[00:49:59] They wouldn't talk about,

[00:50:00] oh, we feel so bad for Mike Trout.

[00:50:02] They wouldn't have said a word about it

[00:50:05] if it wasn't gonna be ripping him.

[00:50:08] And I think that's why people get turned off

[00:50:12] of First Take and don't watch as much anymore.

[00:50:15] I'm sure they're doing fine,

[00:50:17] but television's heyday is well past now.

[00:50:20] And the second part of this is you feel like,

[00:50:23] did Russo say anything notable in response to that?

[00:50:29] Not that got publicly torn apart.

[00:50:35] Because you feel like the baseball guy

[00:50:36] that Russo is supposed to be would have actually

[00:50:40] responded and said something rational

[00:50:42] and defensive Mike Trout.

[00:50:43] And that's how the show is set up.

[00:50:44] Stephen A says one thing,

[00:50:46] Russo responds with the opposite thing

[00:50:48] so the two can argue with that.

[00:50:49] But to be honest, based on some of Russo's takes

[00:50:52] and ever since he's been on ESPN more and more,

[00:50:55] I wouldn't be shocked if he said something stupid as well.

[00:50:58] So like, I just don't know what else we expect.

[00:51:02] It stinks that baseball's sort of appearance

[00:51:10] on these sort of shows are only in a negative connotation

[00:51:14] and never in a positive one.

[00:51:16] Like probably the only time they've talked baseball this year

[00:51:18] is this, and then when show,

[00:51:20] hey got caught in a gambling thing.

[00:51:22] That's it, probably.

[00:51:24] They're probably not talking about

[00:51:26] the Mariners pitching staff.

[00:51:28] Oh, look at this historic run for the Mariners.

[00:51:30] 18 earned runs in their last 18 games.

[00:51:33] Isn't it amazing Chris?

[00:51:36] Yeah. Bad dog?

[00:51:36] No, no, they probably didn't mention that once.

[00:51:39] The name Seattle Mariners probably has not come up

[00:51:42] on that show ever.

[00:51:45] Ever? I'll go with ever versus the field.

[00:51:48] You can take my money.

[00:51:49] But that's why I'm glad things like this exist

[00:51:53] where we can sit down and have a rational discussion

[00:51:55] and we're not forced to fire off hot takes

[00:51:58] to keep someone clicking through channels

[00:52:00] to keep their eyes locked and it's like,

[00:52:02] oh, Steven ain't got a hot take about my trap.

[00:52:04] Oh my God.

[00:52:06] I simply propose if First Take or any of these national shows

[00:52:11] are going to decide to talk about baseball,

[00:52:13] bring on the people that actually know baseball.

[00:52:15] If you're going to do a Mike Trout segment on First Take,

[00:52:18] let me preface this by saying they would never do this.

[00:52:21] They would never have airtime without Steven A off the air

[00:52:24] unless he was actually out for vacation or sickness.

[00:52:27] But if you're going to talk about Mike Trout on the show,

[00:52:30] get Steven A off the air, bring in Jeff Passon,

[00:52:33] bring in Carl Ravich,

[00:52:36] bring in whoever else is on ESPN

[00:52:37] that is qualified to talk about baseball

[00:52:39] that has a baseball background,

[00:52:40] specifically Passon and let them talk about it.

[00:52:44] Don't have Steven A go on and say,

[00:52:48] well you should tough it out through a torn meniscus

[00:52:51] because that's when it looks ridiculous.

[00:52:54] ESPN might not prioritize baseball anymore,

[00:52:56] but they have baseball people.

[00:52:58] If you're going to talk about Mike Trout,

[00:52:59] why don't you get the baseball experts on

[00:53:02] to talk about baseball?

[00:53:04] They might not have baseball that much longer though, right?

[00:53:07] Not much longer, but while they have it,

[00:53:10] they should bring on their experts.

[00:53:13] Although I don't think Passon's going anywhere anytime soon.

[00:53:16] No, but I thought what about the media rights?

[00:53:19] Do I have that right?

[00:53:20] Those may go away.

[00:53:21] Yeah, like that deal is on the brink of coming to an end.

[00:53:25] So we'll see where that goes.

[00:53:27] But again, you have baseball people at the network,

[00:53:31] let them talk about baseball.

[00:53:32] When you have the NFL and the NBA topics,

[00:53:35] let Steven A do whatever he wants,

[00:53:36] but he very clearly is not tuned into baseball.

[00:53:40] And if you're trying to rip somebody

[00:53:41] for tearing them their meniscus, what are we doing?

[00:53:45] Yeah, like was Steven A watching the Knicks game

[00:53:48] or watching Mike Trout's press conference?

[00:53:50] Right.

[00:53:51] Question answered.

[00:53:52] There you go.

[00:53:54] And I do genuinely feel bad for Mike Trout

[00:53:57] while we're on the segment.

[00:53:58] It sucks.

[00:53:58] I know he's in the Mariners division.

[00:54:01] I know he kills the Mariners all the time,

[00:54:03] but guys modern day Mickey Mannel.

[00:54:05] Doesn't matter what division you're in.

[00:54:07] You don't want to see a guy like that injured.

[00:54:08] Baseball is meant to have its best players on the field.

[00:54:12] And I just wish for Trout's sake he could stay healthy.

[00:54:15] I feel awful that it's been such a struggle for him.

[00:54:18] But, and I'm sure he's going through it.

[00:54:21] His press conference, yeah, you could see how caught up.

[00:54:24] He was like, you know, choked up.

[00:54:25] He was it.

[00:54:26] It was hard on him.

[00:54:27] It's been hard on him.

[00:54:27] So it sucks that he's going to miss more time.

[00:54:31] And he's on a, he's alone on an island in that franchise

[00:54:34] and continuing to sort of, you know, carry the angels flag.

[00:54:38] And it's not, it's not getting paid back for him.

[00:54:41] So I see.

[00:54:44] I wish I do wish he'd just demand a trade.

[00:54:46] Maybe this upcoming off season,

[00:54:49] maybe he'd finally do it.

[00:54:50] Who knows?

[00:54:51] I, I, maybe he never will.

[00:54:53] I'm just trying to hope that he will for the sake

[00:54:55] of the baseball world, getting to see him in the playoffs.

[00:54:57] Oh, that's another thing that Stephen A said.

[00:54:59] Stephen A tried to pin this whole thing as,

[00:55:02] because Mike Trout didn't demand out.

[00:55:05] This is karma, which is another ridiculous thing that he said.

[00:55:09] Yeah, he probably also thinks Mike's trout is a loser

[00:55:12] cause he's never made the playoffs.

[00:55:13] He's not a winning player.

[00:55:15] Oh, he's made the playoffs once.

[00:55:17] How many playoff games does he won?

[00:55:20] Well, that's a different story.

[00:55:22] Loser talk, Lyle.

[00:55:24] Yeah. Yeah. Per Stephen A.

[00:55:25] But that again, so that's why you have

[00:55:27] the actual baseball person on there and Russo

[00:55:31] out of any of the quote unquote baseball people

[00:55:33] you'd had on there have on there,

[00:55:34] like Passon makes his appearances on first take.

[00:55:36] But in terms of guys who actually sit there

[00:55:38] and host the whole show, it should be Russo

[00:55:41] who comes to the table and actually, you know,

[00:55:43] tries to promote the game.

[00:55:44] But I know that's not what Chris Russo does anymore.

[00:55:48] Isn't he the same one that tried to a year or so ago

[00:55:51] call Mike Trout overrated?

[00:55:54] Probably.

[00:55:55] So yeah.

[00:55:57] In conclusion, there are plenty of other very good places

[00:56:01] to consume baseball content.

[00:56:03] Just maybe not on first take.

[00:56:05] Yeah. I concur with that.

[00:56:07] Yeah.

[00:56:08] All right.

[00:56:09] On that note, that'll just about wrap up

[00:56:11] this edition of the Marine Layer podcast.

[00:56:14] You guys know the drill.

[00:56:15] If you want to listen to the full form podcast,

[00:56:17] make sure you're downloading our episodes.

[00:56:19] Make sure you're leaving a five star review,

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[00:56:22] That's all in the audio side.

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[00:56:35] That's TJ. I'm Lyle.

[00:56:36] As always, we thank you guys for tuning in.

[00:56:38] We'll talk to you soon.

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