Episode 214: Aaron Goldsmith (Mariners Broadcaster)

[00:00:00] Welcome to episode number 214 of the Marine Layer Podcast. We welcome on Mariners broadcaster, Aaron Goldsmith. We chat with him about taking over the full-time television role, what he's looking forward to at spring training, and some of his really funny broadcasting stories that he's had throughout his broadcasting career.

[00:00:20] A reminder to all you guys before we start this thing, if you're listening, go download, go rate and review, leave it five stars, pretty please. We love seeing those Apple reviews getting up. We just want to see a little bit more, so leave those reviews if you have a chance. Like, comment, and please hit that subscribe button on YouTube. You can follow us everywhere across social media at Marine Layer Pod. And hey, go check out our Patreon too. With spring training ending, we're going to add a bunch of new fun stuff to this thing. So, get over there early. Check out the Patreon.

[00:00:50] Let's get it rolling.

[00:01:03] And we welcome you to this episode of the Marine Layer Podcast, part of the Just Baseball Podcast Network. Recording on Sunday evening, March 2nd. Launa are back from spring training. We returned yesterday evening on Saturday. How was it to see clouds for the first time in a week this morning? Oh, it sucked.

[00:01:24] You know how hard it is to leave Arizona in the wintertime when you're down there in high 70s to 80 degree weather and it's just gorgeous with no clouds every single day. And then you come back and it's like, well, it's cloudy. It might rain today and I can feel some decently cold wind. That's not fun.

[00:01:48] No, it's not. I said this about a million times when we were down at spring training and I have not said it for the people here on the podcast yet. So, let me just say it. If I ever am fortunate enough to have the money, I will absolutely be a snowbird one day. And I will live in Arizona in the winters and Seattle in the spring and summer because I just can't do it with the rain, man. I've done it my whole life, but I can't do it with the rain.

[00:02:11] That's why you need to subscribe to the YouTube and go support us on Patreon so Lyle can get his dream of never seeing clouds again for a day in his life. Or if you guys just want to see me suffer all the time, you won't hit subscribe. But who would want that? So go hit subscribe. What was the final sunburn count for you? I had a couple, but I think we were pretty diligent about reapplying sunscreen. I'm not going to lie. I think we did a pretty good job of saying, yeah, it's hot.

[00:02:41] UVs are high. You can't be forgetting this stuff. I think we reapplied multiple times a day. Me especially because unfortunately, I think I burned pretty easy. So I try to remember. Your head was looking a little red, but I do think we worked through it. That is the hardest part. That's the part where it's like, I don't know what I'm supposed to do. So naturally, yeah, I keep my hair pretty short.

[00:03:05] So it's kind of that middle ground of what in the world are you supposed to do with sunscreen when you have short hair? Because you either don't apply it on your head and your head could get burned or you make the awful attempt, which I ended up doing to try to basically put sunscreen in your hair, which feels gross. But you do. And how effective is it really? I don't know. But I guess we gave it a shot. No. Your hair smells.

[00:03:34] It would make your hair smell good. Yeah, but it does work. You got to like rub it. Yeah. I mean, it did adequate. Let's put it like that. It was an adequate job. But to be fair, yeah, I guess the sunscreen we bought smelled pretty good. So it's not the end of the world. More importantly, getting aside from our sunscreen routines and habits. People don't want to hear about that? Or maybe they do. And you can leave us a comment saying, can you spend another 25 minutes on this?

[00:04:02] If you want to hear that, you can tell us and we'll spend a different episode doing it. There's one thing. There's a couple things Lyle Goldstein is an expert at. I think of two things. I think of making PB&Js and applying sunscreen. Are those the top two? What about ping pong? Yeah, ping pong's up there too. But you have no one good enough to play against. That's why I need to play Emerson at some point, who apparently is a very good ping pong player, Emerson Hancock.

[00:04:28] We didn't get a chance this spring training, but maybe at some point if he's down, we could set up a time and a place to find a table and play. And if he's down, we could turn it into content and turn it into a YouTube video, which you don't have to sell me twice on. I'd do that in a heartbeat. That'd be awesome. What was your biggest takeaway from spring training? I don't know if you're looking for on field or off field, but just to spend a second. Whichever direct turn you want to go.

[00:04:59] I don't know. I think we started to really have some genuine, lengthened conversations with people. By people, I mean a lot of the players. And not to say we don't talk to those guys over the course of the year or the first couple years of doing this, but especially with, one, these guys having more time during spring training. And, two, them starting to get to know us a lot better, knowing, look, we're not there to say, aha, gotcha at any of them with any of the questions we ask.

[00:05:28] Or when just talking to them in general and knowing we usually try to just like to have fun when we talk to the players. It led to some really cool conversations. Like, we spend 10, 15 minutes just chopping it up with Cal Raleigh, talking baseball, having a very real conversation. If you want one little glimpse into that conversation, Cal is very, very much the high man on Victor Robles and said, that guy is going to have an awesome year. So, love it from Cal. Love to hear him say it.

[00:05:55] He is absolutely all bought in on another big Victor Robles season, which is awesome. But, yeah, we had a really lengthened conversation with him. We had a decently lengthened conversation with Logan Gilbert for a while, a handful of others. I don't know. It's cool. It seems like guys like, you know, and this happens with anybody when you spend more enough time over a certain course of time being around and showing your face. But, you know, people trust you.

[00:06:21] And then people really start to take interest in talking with you and spending more time around you. And I think that started to happen. We spent a little time on this podcast talking about, you know, the experience of us essentially parachuting into covering the Mariners by, you know, we have this podcast. We have this platform. We have our social media channels.

[00:06:40] And all of a sudden, we now have access to go to the ballpark and to see the players and how weird it feels and how, yeah, at first, Lyle, we were, we felt very out of place being there. Um, getting to the second spring training, it did finally, it does feel significantly. It feels very normal. It feels very relaxed. It feels like, you know, there's that trust buildup, which again, I hope we can relay some of that trust to you guys based off of, you know, some of these conversations we're having.

[00:07:09] And as we try and evolve of becoming more knowledgeable baseball fans and understanding why the Mariners are doing things they're doing and how we can sort of convey that message that we hope as many people can appeal to as possible. And it starts with having some of these conversations with these guys who are, they couldn't, could not be, there are, you know, a few tough cookies in any baseball clubhouse. But for the most part, these guys are super fun to talk about.

[00:07:34] You'll hear it in this conversation with Goldie, but I was explaining a little bit of some of the conversation we had with Andres Munoz and him talking about his changeup. We've talked about it. It looks amazing, but something you wouldn't even think about of why he's sort of nervous to try and throw in a game and how something like that can affect a pitcher. I had no idea. Wasn't even thinking of that.

[00:07:59] Wasn't even slightly thinking about it, but you wouldn't know unless you sat there and you talked to the guy who has been throwing this pitch. And I'm glad Andres shared that little tidbit with us talking about his changeup, which again, he's trying to work into, um, working to throwing in a game. Yeah. One, one quick tidbit, shout out to the Mariners for their spring training facility. The new upgrades, as we talked about last Wednesday's episode. Awesome. Awesome. Makes the fan experience way better for watching the big leaguers. So I thought that was incredible.

[00:08:29] I'll talk about the fans here in a second, but if you have anything else you want to say. Yeah. Just, no, it was just cool to have a bunch of conversations. And then look, did we joke around and talk with a bunch of the guys that are kind of our Marine Layer pod regulars and, and, and guys we've really gotten to know and kind of stamp as some of our guys here on the pod? Yeah. Did we joke around with Logan Evans for a while? Yeah, of course. We talked to him just about every day. We spent half an hour talking to Reed Van Scooter. We had an awesome interview with Tai P, which if you haven't checked that out from Friday, go do it.

[00:08:58] He is, he's the man. He's, he's hilarious. So yeah, like all those guys we got to catch up with Brandon Garcia. We could keep listing some, but to really talk to some of the guys at length, which again, we've had shortened conversations here and there with guys, but to really get to pick some of their brains at a little bit more of a length in time period was really fun. But yeah, between Cal, between Logan, between Andres, between a few others. Really awesome. Oh, one, one little thing before you get into the fans.

[00:09:28] We ran into Emerson, Logan, and Bryce Miller all at a breakfast spot, which TJ and I have had circled to go to for a while. And we ran into them going out. They were leaving. We were coming in. And Logan said, no, you got to get this. He told me to get this huevos rancheros skillet for breakfast. And the menu was so big. I couldn't decide. I was like, all right, I'll take Logan's recommendation on it. So good. One of the best breakfasts I've ever had.

[00:09:54] And then later, this was a different day from when we had the baseball talk with Logan. We caught up for a minute or two about, oh my God, that was like one of the best breakfasts I've ever had. So shout out to him for the recommendation on that. So, yeah. Yeah, it was good. And Emerson said, get the pancakes. And I forgot. Sorry, Emerson. That was my bad. When we're back there again next year, we'll go to, or anytime soon, back in Arizona, we'll go. Make sure to get the pancakes. It's Hash Kitchen, by the way, is what we're talking about.

[00:10:24] In case someone needs a breakfast spot and you're planning to go down to spring training, Hash Kitchen is right across the street from the sports complex, the Peoria Sports Complex. So if you need somewhere to go eat before the game starts, that's good because they close at 2 o'clock. So if you need a breakfast spot, I think that's a good spot. Leo's, if you saw our tweets about Leo's, you would understand it. Yeah. It's good. Oh, I forgot. I forgot. I just forgot Emerson Hancock and our list of like our guys here at the Marine Air Pod.

[00:10:51] Another guy we spent plenty of time catching up with who's one of the nicest people ever. I want to give a shout out to the fans as always. It's good getting to go places where all Mariners fans converge. I just want to, for any of you that on Saturday, our last day there that came up to us while we were walking around and talked to us, any day of the week, yes, but specifically Saturday, I was legitimately blown away with the amount of people that came up and just said hello to us. It was incredible.

[00:11:20] Keep it up. Please. Whenever you see us, please, please, please say hello. It puts a huge smile on my face. I legitimately turned to Lyle after we were done and we were walking back in the complex. I said, wow. Yeah. It like, trust me when I say it, like it, like it makes, it literally makes my day when you guys do that. It, it, it legitimately does. So keep it up, please. Mine too. I echo everything you just said about that. When we tell people, Hey, come find us at spring training. Come find us at the games in Seattle.

[00:11:50] Well, we genuinely, genuinely mean it because we genuinely love talking to all these Mariners fans that just want to talk baseball or just meet up in person. Like it's, it's so fun. So when we say that, I hope, you know, like we genuinely mean you are bugging us 0% if you ever came up and talk, if you ever were to come up and talk to us. Unless we were literally like button and hit record in the middle of interview with X player, there is never a time where you are bothering us. Yeah.

[00:12:19] And those set interviews don't, are not happening for hours on end. Before we get to Aaron's Goldsmith, let's get one baseball thing, specific baseball thing you saw with your eyes that stuck out from spring training. We talked about the Munoz changeup with Goldie. So maybe I'll leave that conversation there. Well, we've talked about it, period. We talked about it last Wednesday for that episode. But if you want one other baseball thing that really stood out, there's so many different

[00:12:49] ways you could go about this. I mean, I got to tell you, Lazaro Montez is moving well in the outfield. So not only is he hitting bombs, which is awesome, and he does not look overwhelmed in big league games, which is pretty cool, but he looks like he's moving better in the outfield. So how will that translate in 2025? We'll see how it plays out. But early signs, yeah, it's encouraging. Obviously, for the most part, Laz is going to be a bat first prospect.

[00:13:17] But I got the takeaway from this week that maybe there's something there that he's really working on defensively too. I'm going to choose a couple more young guys. Let's get the ultra obvious one out of the way. So Cole Young has been hurt, right? So we haven't gotten to see him as much in the field. He's working his way back. Hopefully, maybe this week, he'll be clear to go back in the field and play second base a little bit more regularly. And he's, at this point, probably not going to get a chance to make the opening day roster.

[00:13:47] I was like, well, there's an outside chance if he's healthy from the start. But he was dealing with, I believe it's a shoulder issue that's kept him at shoulder, right? Yeah, it's either a shoulder or it's something with that throwing arm. Yeah, with the throwing arm, which has prevented him from being in the field. He's hit decent when he's been in the lineup as a DH, but not much in the field. I want to say, though, referring to Sunday's game, you saw that Colt Emerson at bat today, man. Yeah. Jeez.

[00:14:15] 14 pitches, and I think he hit three balls foul that were home runs. In both directions. This dude, I'm excited for this dude. I'm crossing every joint on my body this dude stays healthy all season. Because I listened to his interview on Brockensalk today on Sunday. I hadn't gotten to listen to it yet. They sat down and talked with him for 25 minutes. Dude is locked in. He gets it.

[00:14:44] This is what you want in a top prospect. You should be so excited to listen to this dude talk. I also want to give a shout out to Ben Williamson. There's buzz around Ben Williamson and his ability to make an impact on the Mariners roster this season. The dude just needs to hit a little bit to provide value. I think it's a very exciting thing to look at for this upcoming season. I could always give, you know, Lyle, a negative look at what we saw at spring training.

[00:15:14] I think I brought up a couple of these with Aaron Goldsmith. But I think a little positivity as we pledged that we were going to do. We were going to be positive people. I'm not going to talk about third base and second base. I'm not going to do it. So instead, we'll look at positive instead. Well, let me say this to both your points before we finally get everybody to this interview with Goldie, which was awesome, by the way. The Ben Williamson point.

[00:15:38] If he is a 100 WRC plus hitter, I mean, are you talking about a two and a half, three war third baseman already? Because the guy could be a two war third baseman off his defense alone. And then if he's a league average bat, I don't know, man. Like his defense is so good that he doesn't have to hit that much to provide real value. Mm-hmm. It's exciting to think about. Is he a favorite to get everyday playing time?

[00:16:09] Not as long as Jorge Polanco's healthy. But, you know, we'll see. Yeah, not to start the year, but you're looking up at the all-star break. We'll see. And then to your point about Colt Emerson, just to add one little comment to it. He is, to your point, very locked in. And he almost, he's got a little bit of, I'm not saying his skill sets like this. Because it's different. The personality reminds me a little bit of a Bobby Witt Jr.

[00:16:36] In the sense of, he is very, very mature for a guy his age. Knows what it takes. And is very, like, head down focused. So, like, very nice. Every time we've had interactions with Colt, with Colt Emerson. He's always been very friendly. Very, you know, positive. Very engaging. But, you know, he's a little on the quiet side. And part of that is I think he's just very mature for his age and very laser focused on who he wants to be.

[00:17:05] So, yeah, it's interesting. You know, he doesn't have that Julio outgoing charisma. But he's just more quiet and focused on his goals and his vision. It's cool. All right. Final note. I'm stamping it. I'm nervous about third base. All right. Stamped. There you go. And now we're done. So, there's your... Now we're done. There you go. Two seconds of negativity. Yeah. Yeah. That's fair. That is fair. All right. Before we get to Goldie, quick pause.

[00:17:35] Let's talk to you guys about our friends over at Pagatch's Pub 85. That's over in Kirkland. You want an awesome time with your friends. You want to go play some games. You want to watch sporting events. You want to have some great food. It's all over there. Especially if you want great happy hour deals. Those are Monday through Friday, 2 to 6 p.m. Drinks are $3 and $4, you guys. Those are really awesome deals. And you can get them every weekday of the week for four hours on end at an awesome spot to go hang out. So, again, you want to go watch March Madness with your friends.

[00:18:04] You want to go watch some spring training games. Go plan an event. Go plan a day out, night out, etc. A lunch outing. You choose. All of it. Over at Pagatch's Pub 85 in Kirkland. So, now the second time we've had Aaron Goldsmith on the pod. Almost exactly. The timing's fantastic. Almost exactly a year after the first time we had him on. Goldie shares some insight of what he's looking for at spring training. My favorite part.

[00:18:32] I love hearing broadcasting stories. I love hearing it. Goldie's got some really good broadcasting stories. Yes, he does. He is so fun to talk to. He's just always such a great conversation. I could listen to him talk about mowing his lawn for an hour. He's just so fun to listen to. So, it was a blast. I don't want to hold people up on the combo. We won't keep you any longer. Let's get you to the interview with Aaron Goldsmith. All right. We got Goldie on with us.

[00:19:00] The new full-time television voice of the Seattle Mariners. Goldie, congrats. That's awesome to hear. Before we get to that, though, I was curious. You're still coaching basketball. Have you got teed up yet? This winter. Hey, guys. It's good to be with you again. No tease. Yeah. And I don't think I've come remarkably close either.

[00:19:24] I'm very careful because the last thing I want is somebody tweeting out that Aaron Goldsmith got teed up in a Parks and Rec fourth-grade basketball game. So, I try to sit on my hands a lot in that regard. It's been another super fun basketball season. I coached my daughter, who is eight, and played her first year of basketball. It was actually pretty cool.

[00:19:49] She, last year, like, never played basketball, had really no concept other than the basics of the sport. And she just got swept away by Caitlin Clark mania. And she said, I want to play basketball next year. And it was really cool to see that in your own household and from your own child. I mean, like, we all were inspired by athletes like that when we were kids. And to see it as a parent was super cool. And so, she's wrapping up her first year of playing. And my son has played for a long time now.

[00:20:17] And it's been, like, one of the most rewarding things ever the last two winters to be able to coach him and a lot of his friends in basketball. And it's one of the things I look forward to most each and every weekend and then also weeknights when we have practice. It's just, it's super fun, man. It takes me back to when I was a kid, as I'm sure would for you guys as well. So, I'm glad it's been another fun year. So, it sounds like you guys are also sitting down and watching a lot more. Yeah. So, we, my, it's funny, man.

[00:20:45] My, I used to do more basketball games for Fox and FS1 than I do now. And I would end up doing a decent amount of Big East games because that's one of the conferences that Fox has the rights to. And when my son and I would play basketball in the driveway, he would be like, okay, you're Creighton and I'm St. John's. And it's like, he's the only kid in the greater Seattle area who is Creighton or St. John's instead of, like, anything in the Pac-12.

[00:21:16] May it rest in peace. Because he was just watching Dad's games on TV. He knew the Big East backwards and forwards. But now he's getting more accustomed to the way things are in the new college basketball landscape. I'll be totally honest. I believe you when you say you have not gotten teed up and haven't really gotten close to being teed up. A lot more than one Mike Salk, who has also filled in on coaching some basketball this year, who claims, I don't get mad at the refs. I don't get into it with the refs.

[00:21:43] But knowing your two personalities, I believe you a little bit more than I do him. I'm going to be honest. Oh, I think Salk's definitely more combative, don't you think? I mean, I'm a sweetheart. Come on. He hosts a talk show for a living. He's bound to get teed up before I do. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, there's no doubt. Yeah, it's funny because the kids, when a bad call is made, it's the kids who react. I mean, even in fourth grade, and they'll, like, go palms up, and their face will drop, and they'll get slack-jawed, and they can't believe it.

[00:22:12] And so I'm always quick to tell them to button it up and put it someplace else and get back on defense because I don't want them getting in trouble, and I certainly don't want me getting in trouble either. But, yeah, I think Salk is definitely due in line for a tee at some point in his coaching career, even if it's just a fill-in basis. I agree. Now, I know you wouldn't love to be teed up, and you said you wouldn't want the reaction to it. Do you think, though, if it was, like, 10 years down the road and you knew that there was video of you getting teed up that you would actually think it's really funny?

[00:22:43] Well, you know, the thing is, like, when I meet some of the refs before the game, you know it's nice to go over and shake their hands and just say, Hi, I'm Aaron. Every once in a while, one of these guys or women will be a Mariners fan, right? And they'll be like, Oh, hey, man, go Mariners. When are you going on to spring training? All that kind of stuff. And, like, then it's like, well, I've got to really be on good behavior now. And, like, you never know. I'm constantly yelling.

[00:23:12] I mean, not, like, bad, but I'm constantly, like, projecting to the players on the floor. And my voice, to some, is fairly recognizable. And so, like, there's probably people on the other team, parents, who figure out who I am. Definitely not all of them, but there might be a couple here or there. And so the last thing I want is somebody getting in their car and firing off a text to their buddy and be like, You won't believe the jerk I met at Parks and Rec basketball today.

[00:23:41] It was Aaron Goldsmith. So I can't have that happen. So I've got to do a little of my own PR work when I can. Do the people who hear you project during these basketball games, you think they think to themselves anything like, Hey, that kind of sounds like a Julio home run caller. That sounds like when he robbed Jake Fraley's home run. Or when he called Jake Fraley's robbed home run. Anything like that? Hopefully my voice doesn't crack and squeal like that during a basketball game. I mean, it is funny.

[00:24:08] Like, there are some people who will just come right up to me and say hello, and I'm a huge Mariners fan, and all those kinds of things. I think the vast majority of people, and I have no way to prove this, but I think most people just kind of, if they do know who I am, just walk on past me. And it's funny. Like, I do genuinely like making connections with fans. I hope that the longer that I do this, the more people feel like they know me.

[00:24:38] And I think this is a really difficult job to do if you don't kind of open up to people. And obviously, I still have my privacy, just like everyone would want me to have. But I hope that my personality on the air is a near-carbon copy to my personality right now, or when I'm coaching a basketball game, or if I'm at the coffee shop. And so I do really enjoy it when people feel comfortable coming up and saying hi to me,

[00:25:07] because it isn't necessarily so much about what they say. It's more just the fact that they felt enabled and empowered and more comfortable to come talk to me, because then I feel like I've connected with that fan to a point where they kind of already feel, in a small, maybe strange way, that they know me, and they just want to say hi to me again. And that could be kind of a loopy line of thinking for some people who are hearing me say that.

[00:25:34] But that's really how I feel about it, because as I'm sure I've told you guys before, when we've chatted either on here or at the ballpark, one of my favorite things about doing Mariners baseball is I've been doing it long enough now where I feel like every night when I put on the headset and I talk into the microphone, I really feel like I'm talking to the same people every night. Like we're just continuing a conversation that got put on pause last night at 10 o'clock,

[00:26:03] and we're just picking it up again tonight at 7. And I know that's not realistic. Maybe this is like when hitters trick themselves or pitchers trick themselves into how to throw a pitch. Maybe this is like the broadcast version of it. But I think that way so naturally, and it makes me so calm and so at ease, and I don't have jitters or nerves because of it, because I just, I feel like the three of us talking right now. And it just, it's one of my favorite parts of the job and one of the reasons why I love doing local baseball so much,

[00:26:33] because it is the same fans every night by and large, and the volume of games obviously is unrivaled by anything else. So it's just more time getting to talk about one of my favorite things with people that I feel like I know. So what did it mean to you now in year 13 that you get to what most people I would assume think in local sports to be the pinnacle position, which is the television voice? When, when, you know, when this comes around and it is finally a reality for you, how'd you feel?

[00:27:02] It was a dream come true, man. I mean, it really was. I was very happy with my previous role, being able to split time on TV and radio. And one of my best friends in the world is Gary Hill, who's in the radio booth. And so I meant that for roughly half the nights a year, I got to sit right next to him and watch Mariners baseball. And just, we just talk about baseball so much.

[00:27:26] And it's some of my favorite conversations come over those six months of the season, just talking baseball with Gary. And I'm going to miss sitting next to him now every night. But I enjoyed being with him. I enjoyed being with Rick. And I enjoyed the craft and the art of radio, which I think most people can understand, even if they're not super dialed into the differences in the broadcast. Like, they are remarkably different, right? And I came up doing radio through the minors and certainly started there with the Mariners.

[00:27:54] And, I mean, when I think back to when I got the Mariners job over a decade ago, let me tell you, man, the last thing I was thinking was about being a TV broadcaster. I mean, that sounded to me like flying a rocket ship. I was just trying to figure out how to do it on radio, let alone with bright lights and cameras everywhere and an analyst and a producer and director and graphics and all that stuff.

[00:28:19] But the Mariners were very good to me to kind of temper my way in and ease me into TV over the years. And it became something that I really enjoyed the differences. I enjoyed the call of radio. But I learned to really love kind of the dynamic nature of TV. The ability to tell a story verbally, visually, with graphics, with an analyst,

[00:28:46] with the director hearing us talk about something and getting that tight shot of Kirby's grip as he starts with a split finger grip and then changes to something else in his glove and having the analyst be able to talk about why he does that. Like, those kinds of things, you can't do the same. Obviously, on radio. You can make it really sing still on radio. But the camaraderie of TV and knowing that you have a whole truck of men and women down there

[00:29:14] who are all rowing in the same direction, working on the same production, the same broadcast to really make us better than the sum of our parts. Like, that's really cool. I really enjoy that. And it's fun to fly solo, but it's also fun to have like a whole huddle and a whole team. So, this will be a new challenge for me, which is something else that I'm excited for. I've done a lot of TV, but I've never done it exclusively for 150-some games once you lose some to national.

[00:29:43] So, that'll be challenging. Like, there's no question. I'm eyes wide open about that. But I think I will grow. I will make more mistakes because of this. But I trust that I'll learn from them. And I'm just excited for that first year of being in one chair for a full season. So, two parts to that. Number one, I know Mariners fans are fired up about it. Just seeing all the comments and hearing from all these people. I know people are just over the moon to hear you on TV every night calling these games, along with all the new analysts, which is going to be awesome.

[00:30:12] The second part to that is you kind of alluded to it. What happens to the whole Goldie-Gary bromance now? I mean, is this like NSYNC or the Beatles breaking up? Like, there's no more ever again? Like, what happens? I do think that it's fair to compare us to the Beatles. Thank you. And definitely NSYNC. So, we, for whatever this is worth, he and I will call three spring training games together, including the breakout game, which will also be on roots,

[00:30:39] but it's at Cleveland's minor league ballpark. So, we are not brought, typically in spring training, as you guys know, it's the home team who does, if there's going to be a telecast, it's the home team who does it. So, last year it was in Peoria, this year it's in Goodyear. So, we will carry their broadcast on root. But Gary and I will do the radio broadcast for that, which will be super fun. So, we're doing three games together in spring, which is fun. That's like horse around central when you get to do a spring training game together.

[00:31:08] And then, for the season, I think there's one instance where the Mariners have a national game, and I'm going to fill in for Rick on radio, because he's taking that night off. So, Gary and I will be together on radio. But more common, which I think is more to your point, he and I, two years ago, actually, I would love to have your help and your listeners' help with this. And I'm being 100% serious.

[00:31:38] Two years ago, he and I started doing a segment together on the postgame show. Pardon me, on the pregame show. It's the last segment before the top of the hour. And we literally just talk about anything. Like, the way it normally works is we sit there in the radio booth with the headsets on, and one of us says, okay, I got something.

[00:32:05] And then Gary presses record, and we ambush the other guy with whatever the topic is. And we just riff for, like, five minutes. And it could be fun and silly. It could be super nerdy. It could be, like, a great baseball storyline. It could be anything. And it's truly some of the most fun I have every day because you know how it is. You guys do this all the time, and you guys are great friends. Like, when you're with somebody that you have just a natural connection with,

[00:32:33] it just manages things, right? Like, we're not great every day, but it's pretty solid most of the time. And we will continue doing that. But what I need from you guys and your listeners, like, however people want to reach out, man, we've gone two years with this segment, and it doesn't have a name. We have no good name for the two of us talking baseball for five minutes. So, like, I'm not putting you on the spot now.

[00:33:03] But I need people who hear this to give it some thought. Gary Hill, Aaron Goldsmith, baseball conversation, five minutes every day. That's the parameter. Like, please. And I tell you what, if somebody comes up with, like, the winning idea, we will 100% spend a segment early in the year shouting out that person, which will do absolutely nothing for them.

[00:33:28] But we will say their name and give them our endless thanks on the radio. Okay? Off the top of my head, I'm thinking something like the Goldie Gary bromance talk or something like that. Maybe that's bad, but that's the first one off the rip that I've got. Well, Shannon calls it, one day, Gary and I, we were in Anaheim, and a hotel there was right near the water.

[00:33:55] And I was like, hey, Gary, there's a place that we can Uber to that we can rent kayaks. We can go, like, open water kayaking. And so he was down. So we went kayaking. And when we were, like, paddling through the surf together, we started talking about what we might talk about that night on the segment. And we came up with an idea that we both liked. And so we get to the ballpark and we tape it.

[00:34:21] And, like, the way that the flow works is we record it. And then Shannon, who hosts the pregame and postgame show, she always asks us, like, what did you guys talk about on your segment? Because she wants to be able to tease it, obviously. And that particular day I was like, hey, actually, we were, we were, like, open water kayaking. And we came up with this really fun idea about blah, blah, blah. And so from then on out, she has called the segment Two Idiots in a Canoe.

[00:34:50] So that right now is our best option. We're trying to beat Two Idiots in a Canoe. If anybody can somehow surpass that. It's going to be hard to beat. I know. It's really good. To be completely honest. If people, if more of our listening audience were privy to the backstory, like now you guys and your listeners are, we might actually consider calling it that. But as you can imagine, people would be very confused. And understandably so.

[00:35:20] Yeah, they would be. I'm curious now that since Dave has now departed the Yankees, I'm so excited for Sims and the job he got with the Yankees. It's going to be truly amazing. When you were coming up as a TV broadcaster, what kind of role did he play when eventually you started getting some of those reps in the same forum that he had? Can I tell you the best thing that Dave did was he never said anything to me about it.

[00:35:51] He could have been really mad, man. Before I got there, you know, there wasn't like a huge window of time from the time that Niehaus passed to the time that I got there and started doing TV. It was two years before I, between Dave passing and me arriving. But then it was probably, I think I started doing TV my, a little bit of TV my second season.

[00:36:21] And I'll be honest, man. If I was Dave and I had like this lockdown of a full-time TV job, I'd be pretty peeved that like I still kind of just recently got this exclusive TV gig. And now some punk 29-year-old who's barely done this ever on radio is coming in and taking some TV games. And the best thing that Dave did was never made it awkward,

[00:36:50] never said anything to me about it other than like congratulating me. I remember when I, when it got announced internally that I was going to start doing national baseball games for Fox, he like legitimately congratulated me about it. And the whole time as I started doing more and more TV games for the Mariners up to the point where I was doing half of them the last couple of years, like he and I, our relationship never changed. And it was super cool of him, man.

[00:37:20] Like I'll never take that for granted. And I'm so happy to echo what you said that he gets to, first of all, go home. I mean, he lives in New York during the off season. I can't imagine, oh, I can't imagine how difficult it would be to live on each coast for half the year. Like that sounds like torture to me. And for him to be able to now be in his home year-round, call games for a team that he's very passionate about is awesome.

[00:37:50] And for him to, however many more years he's going to work for, to be able to go out like that with a friend in Susan Waldman, their analyst on radio who he's very close with and has been for quite some time. Like that's, that's really special. So it works out great for Dave, works out incredibly well for me also. For Gary, who now gets a crack at an everyday job on radio, which, I mean, that's the, to me, that's the biggest story. I just, when, to give you an idea, not to windbag this thing,

[00:38:17] to give you an idea where Gary's relationship and my relationship began, Gary was a finalist for the job that I got when I was hired in 2013. So when I came to Seattle, I didn't know it at the time, but I got that job over Gary. And like Gary probably was, I mean, I know he was obviously devastated.

[00:38:42] He's a Tacoma kid and knew infinitely more about the Mariners than I did, still does. And he got passed over for some punk kid from the minor leagues who's never even been to Seattle before. And like little by little, he and I talk a little more baseball, a little more baseball. And before you know it, like we look up and it's like, are we best friends? And so it's been super cool. Like it just really speaks to the quality of people that we have around us in the broadcast booth in Seattle.

[00:39:13] You've been here all this time now and you talk about it whenever we talk about it with you, especially with two people in TJ and I who have some level of background in broadcasting about you never are a finished product and you're always working on certain things. Even being here as long as you have, maybe you can give fans and some listeners a little bit of insight to this. Is there one specific thing you're going into 2025 with and saying, yeah, I really want to get better at this this year? That's a good question.

[00:39:43] I mean, I think for me, I'm just, I'm really eyes wide open because it's, it's just such a new situation for me. We talk about TV every day, but then also the rotation of analysts. I don't, I, I don't know enough to say how exactly I'm going to handle that. I'm excited for it. I'm, I'm genuinely friends with each one of those people. Uh, like anybody who spent time with any of those four, uh, as I'm sure you guys,

[00:40:10] I'm sure have, we all know those are just rock solid human beings that happen to be really good broadcasters with terrific institutional knowledge about the Mariners. Right. And for me and what I do in the chair, I sit in, it's like, check, check, check. Right. What else, what else could you ask for? But I don't even really know the challenges that will come up with, okay. I'm going to just make up names here.

[00:40:36] Ryan is my third different analyst in a, I don't even know what it'll be 15 day span, 20 day span. Right. How much has he been able to watch? How much does he want to talk about that? Maybe we already talked about that in Kirby's last start. All right. So how do we get him? We want him to be excited about what he wants to share with the audience, but is there a different angle we can take on it? So we're not saying the same thing that Angie said five days ago. Right.

[00:41:05] So like things like that, it's just, I haven't lived that. So I'm, I'm kind of like triple threat position from opening day, just super excited, incredibly grateful, and just kind of ready to pivot and be the best kind of point man that I can be because each one of those people, I also have to remember they have varying levels of broadcast experience in the booth, right?

[00:41:32] Angie's been on TV forever in this market, but she hasn't done a ton of games in the booth. And this will be the most she'll ever done. And the same can be said about Hyphen. And Val has done games with Texas last year. And of course has been done games with the Mariners, but it's been a while since he's done games with the M's and Bone. I mean, it's been, he talked in spring training about how he's a little, you know, a little nervous and I understand it.

[00:42:00] And he brings his own, his own element to the booth as well. Talk about being a triple threat. And so I think I'm, I know that the foundation is super solid because of what I already said, the quality of people, the level of passion and the desire to do the job well. Like that's all I want as somebody who does my job for a living. Like when you have that, you can work with anything. You could give me twice as many analysts if they all are like that to rotate through.

[00:42:30] So I'm going to be really focused on how I can help kind of be a setup man for these people and help, help make them feel comfortable as best as I can while also just being geeked out of my mind that I'm in that chair every day. I got one more thing before you get to your next question, TJ, because you just sparked something goalie. Will calling games with Jay Buhner be any sort of level like calling games with Bill Walton, which you've also done? You know what's funny, man?

[00:42:59] Like I did one game with, uh, love that man, Bill Walton. Oh, what a, what a sweetheart of a man. He said to me before the game, two things. He said, do you mind if I take you out for dinner after the game? Um, and I was like, Hey, I'm, I'm not saying no to Bill Walton in a dinner invite. And you know, it's one of these like eight P eight 15 PM tips at heck. Yeah.

[00:43:26] You know, I'm like, Hey, whatever, dude, I'll stay up and as out as late as you want. And then he said to me, you can say anything you want to me on the air. I don't care. Like he, he knows what it is. Like he, he, he knows what he does. And it's one of those things where like, I was very on edge and I talked to two different people who had done games with him, just how to handle it.

[00:43:52] And their advice was like, you have to figure out very quickly things to just let fly by and just don't even react. Just let it go and move on. And things that immediately don't wait five seconds immediately. You have to call him out on and be like, what are you talking about? Right. And like he, some people say, some people will say something like you can say anything to me you want and I don't care. People can say that there aren't many people who can say that and actually mean it.

[00:44:22] And he was as like, what you saw is what you get. It was 100% authentic and genuine. And he meant it, man. Like I called him out on some things that I thought were utterly ridiculous. Like, I don't know, everyone watching. And he was a total sweetheart about it. And then he took me out to dinner and paid for it. Here's the other thing. It's a great lesson for like everybody. We, I go out to dinner with one of the greatest basketball players of all time. Who's lived this insane life as we all know.

[00:44:50] And we probably ate for close to two hours and shut this restaurant down, down by U Village. And he asked me about myself the entire time. Like he never talked about himself. He only asked me questions about me and my family. Like we, he starts paying the bill and I'm like, well, I got some stuff for you, man. He's just a, a, a very, I know. Hey, I'm, I'm a consumer as well.

[00:45:19] And I know when you watched a game with Bill and it was like, you know, five seconds left down by one sideline out of bounds. It's like, it can be, it could be rough, right? It could be rough. But, um, he was just an utterly kind man. It truly was. Did he, did he remember your name? Like during the broadcast? Yes. Yeah, he did. Oh, good. Uh, I got a funny story though.

[00:45:45] I did a, um, when I was really early on with Fox, first few years, they had me call the conference USA, uh, tournament. Like the champ, the semifinal games and the championship game. Maybe it was just a championship game. Why would anybody want to watch the conference USA semis? It was just, it was just the championship game. It was in Birmingham, Alabama.

[00:46:13] I'm not going to say the guy that I worked with because it puts him in a bad spot. But the, the former head coach who I was the only time I ever worked with him, he was going to do the trophy presentation for the winning, winning team. Um, which like the trophy presentation for the conference USA championship. I mean, like go get a mug from your pantry and spray painted gold. Like that's the trophy. There's no podium. There's no, it's just like, here's a mug. That's basically what it was.

[00:46:41] And so I'm, I'm at the table, which is like, you know, 50 yard line courtside at mid court right there. And so the way it worked is like, I call the game, like I call the buzzer in the game and it's over. And like so-and-so wins UAB wins. And Jar, I almost said it. I almost said the name. The guy gets out of his seat and puts his IFB in and walks over to mid court to meet the coach.

[00:47:11] And I'm like, all right, standing by with the winning coach is our analyst. Take it away. And I say his name and he starts doing the interview and then he gets done with the interview. And he's like, my analyst says, coach, congratulations on a tournament championship. Great job. Back to you. And he just stares at me. Like stares at me from like 20 feet away at mid court and has no idea what my name is at all.

[00:47:40] No clue. Like we just called a whole game together. No idea what my name was. Just my first name. Like you don't need to know my last name. Just call me my first name. Like not a crazy name. You know, think about Hank Aaron if you want. And I just, in that moment, I was like, I cannot believe this guy doesn't know my name. How long am I going to let him just rot on live TV before I say, you got it. Thanks so much. And so I think I did like a two and a half count before I just couldn't take it. I just felt so bad for him.

[00:48:09] But that, I think that's the only time that my analyst has forgotten my name. And it was in one of the most awkward situations you can imagine. Well, as you, I brought that up because Bill loves to forget Dave Pasch's name. That's true. He loved it. He did love to. What's your name again? Yeah. And I think with him, like he and Pasch had such a beautiful relationship that like, I think even Bill knew that there were enough layers there that they could handle that shtick. Right. You know what?

[00:48:39] He probably did say it to me at least once. But I mean, he said it to Pasch like every media timeout practically. So he was a very sweet man. I will always treasure my night with Bill Walton. And I brought, this was Gary's idea, I brought a baseball and he signed a baseball for me. Nice. And watching his hands hold a baseball, man, was pretty comical. I do want to get to baseball here in a second, but I just love Bill Walton.

[00:49:06] So I have to ask this based off of things I remember Pasch talking about with this. When you guys sit down before the game starts, did he say like, we're not talking pregame? Did he do that? I feel like I've heard that. You know, I have heard that about him. We did not talk much pregame, but I will say this. We, it was a situation where at the time, UW did not hold a shoot around, which is like a day of game practice.

[00:49:33] So we didn't have a chance to talk with at the time, Mike Hopkins before the game and the opposing coach. We didn't have a chance to talk to. They did not have a shoot around either. So we met with both head coaches in the locker room, you know, whatever, 90 minutes before the game. And tell you what, man, a guy like Bill Walton, if you would have told me that he just shown goes, I, I'd be like, yeah, no, I mean like he's Bill Walton. You know, he calls a million Pac-12 games a year.

[00:49:59] He's going to get by on shtick and charisma and naming rivers in Washington state. And he pulled out of his backpack for both teams, a manila folder that looked like he was getting ready to give it to his CPA for tax season. I mean, it was stuffed full of notes and anecdotes. They were all handwritten. He's thumbing through it, asking Bobby Hurley or whoever it was about this player and that

[00:50:27] and hop about this guy and that, about their last game. And I mean, it was like, it was real work, man. And it's hard to find former athletes who have reached the pinnacle who will work like athletes who are trying to keep a job. And that's what Bill Walton did. It was, it was pretty impressive, man. Like he, he was into it. So, and he didn't, he didn't have to do all that. And also it was a game on Pac-12 network.

[00:50:56] Like it wasn't ESPN. It wasn't with Pash. It wasn't Arizona, UCLA. It was probably like one of the lowest ranking or rating games that he would do all year. So kudos to him, man. I hope we're all like that when we're in the final years of our career. So we asked you this question last year, and I think it'd be a good way to kick off our baseball discussion because I think we talked to you at just about the same point a year ago with you going down to spring training later in the week. So what are you going to be looking for?

[00:51:25] The first thing when you get down to the Peoria sports complex, what are you going to be looking at? Yeah, I think I'm most intrigued. And I know Cole Young's had some throwing issues so far early in camp. But the thing that I was kind of most interested in is would Cole Young pull a Julio circa a few years ago and just take the Cactus League by storm and just knock down the door and say, I'm your second baseman.

[00:51:55] I don't know what his forecast looks like with what his arm is at, the shape his arm is in right now. But I think the Mariners right now, if you look at their three options at second base between Cole, Bliss, and Dylan Moore, like there isn't anybody that you're saying, yeah, that's the guy. They each have pros and cons.

[00:52:20] I think Dylan, I mean, obviously Dylan is the most known quantity, but that can be a good thing and a bad thing, right? He's never proven to be a well above average hitter. Now, that being said, I firmly believe you can win a World Series with Dylan Moore on your roster. He has obvious tools that he does well. He's a tremendous fielder. The offseason hardware speaks for itself there. His versatility is craved by every manager in baseball.

[00:52:48] He's got some sneaky pop and he's a really good runner. Like those are good tools to have. Are they the tools that you want every day at second base for a guy who hasn't proven to be able to really handle an everyday role offensively, especially well? Maybe this is the year, right? Like there's always that potential, but there's nothing that makes you feel confident that Dylan Moore is going to be a above average offensive player this year.

[00:53:17] Bliss has such intrigue because he was a highly rated prospect, part of a noteworthy trade. He also has tools. He has sneaky pop. He runs well. I was a little worried about his glove last year, like especially for whatever it's worth in spring training. It wasn't the stickiest glove. Now, I think a full year working with Perry Hill, I think he's improved. I think he's better. But he's got 70 plate appearances in the show.

[00:53:48] I mean, okay. Like maybe it's great, but maybe he needs more time. And then Cole Young, we all know his story. I mean, I think it's, I think, I think the Mariners would love it if Cole Young just said this is mine and I'm going to prove it to you, right? Like give it to the young guy and let him run with it. But I don't know if that is going to happen. But I think that would allow Dylan to then be in his real sweet spot, right? You can match him up better.

[00:54:18] You can play him all over the place and you can really use him as that jack of all trades. So that's, that was kind of the thing that going into it, I was most, most looking forward to is just seeing what does 2025 Cole Young look like right now? Yeah, that's what we talked about. I like that we're all kind of on the same wavelength here because we said this is the most intriguing player in camp. And obviously I don't think people think his upside is what Julio's was, but it's that

[00:54:45] same idea of he's the prospect that's closest to the big leagues, at least of the prospects that are on the high end of things with, I don't want to say an unknown, but kind of this broad canvas of he could start the year in AAA and they'll give him some time to develop or he could just shoot right out of spring training like a rocket and say, yeah, I'm taking this job. I am your opening day second baseman. Obviously, I think he's going to have to get out there and play a little bit more and have the arm healed to see it.

[00:55:11] But yeah, I mean, this is, this is a fascinating player because this is a guy that can really make a difference for you if he were to, I mean, whenever he gets up this year, right? So to see what he could do in spring training, like it is a big storyline. Well, and his offensive profile fits the need of the team and what they really desire and what their new mantra is. I mean, he's a bat over power guy who will spray it and use all fields. And I would imagine would hit the fastball very well.

[00:55:37] So that's, that's like the billboard for the Mariners right now offensively, as we've all heard for since really September of last year. And it's good to see that carry over. So we know this, all of us listening know this, whether it's on opening day or at the end of April or at the all-star break, like we're, we're going to see Cole Young barring health at some point this season. It's just, it seems almost inevitable. And it would be a real jolt of energy.

[00:56:07] I think if, if it were to happen on opening day, but it certainly does not have to happen and they need to give it to the guy who's best prepared come opening day to take that job. So you said second base. I couldn't take my eyes off a third base down there. And I'm not totally sure it was for a good reason. Polanco did while we were down there during Polanco just got back onto the field defending in the middle of the week, but it's goal. It's a really fascinating group over there.

[00:56:36] Whether you want to look at it in a positive or a negative way, you know, Polanco is definitely an experiment over there at third base. We did see Ryan bliss getting some reps at third base while we're down there too. And while not be, might not be as some people were mentioning, it's not like a huge, like stamp that he's going to play a bunch of third base. They, you know, he was, he was taking reps over there. So it may, it like, it makes you raise an eyebrow and thinks that like this, you know,

[00:57:02] this position, depending on health and production can determine this, be a big part of determining what this upcoming season. Do you, do you see it in a similar way? I don't think, I mean, obviously they're just trying to work on versatility for bliss. And the fact that you don't want a player that young coming up and sitting, right? Like you don't want young Ryan bliss being your guy on the bench. We, you need him playing, you need him getting at bats and getting reps.

[00:57:32] And so if it were to wash out where he was able to play a little bit more over, we know they came up as a shortstop, obviously that's taken. But if he could chip in in some regard, like I get why they're at least trying it. I mean, this is what spring training is about. You got nothing to lose, obviously. I, I am very optimistic about Polanco. I just, I could be wrong. Hey, I could easily be wrong.

[00:57:58] But I have a hard time believing that you're 31 and you just permanently fall off a cliff. I mean, it's happened. I mean, you could go find guys that it's happened to, but I mean, Polanco was a above average major league player for years on end. And when he got the knee cleaned up and obviously rejoined the Mariners, I was like, okay, tell me it was the knee, right?

[00:58:24] Like you struggled from the left side and it was your back knee when you hit left-handed. I can believe that. Like I get that totally. I don't think when you're in your age 30 season, like he was last year, that you just poof, you can't hit anymore. Like it doesn't happen that way. So I still am willing to say it's early enough and we can wait and see. And I'm not like if the red button is under the glass, the glass is still very closed and my hand is on a different part of the desk.

[00:58:54] I'm not close to touching the glass to raise. But yeah, you need to see it in, like you need to see him out there at some point pretty soon, fairly soon. Yeah. I'm more in your boat. I was going to say, I've always kind of been big on the Polanco bounce back thing just because he was always, yeah, he was just always such a good offensive player when he was traded over here. He was like, you took a three-year span. He was a top five offensive second baseman in the league and now he plays third. But yeah.

[00:59:20] So like, I wouldn't be shocked at all to see him bounce back in a pretty nice way. Will his defense beat Gold Glove? Maybe not. But offensively, like I still hold out hope for that guy. There's no doubt. 100%. I like, I do want to see what it looks like, right? Like him at third. I don't know what that arm looks like at third base. But if he can hit like he hit in Minnesota and stay healthy, you got it, man.

[00:59:47] Like, let's give it a run and see what happens. So I thought you were going Ben Williamson, but you were going glass half empty. Like, just like Lyle says, typical TJ, man, glass half empty. Yeah. That role goes back and forth depending on what the subject is. I'll be honest. Yeah. On a more positive note, Goldie, you probably don't need our recommendation for it, but we're going to sit here and recommend it to you anyway.

[01:00:17] You got to see this Andres Munoz change up when you're down there. Oh my God. Like, he's trying to downplay it and we asked him about it and I get it. He's saying like, look, we'll see how much I really use it. But we watched it in his bullpen and then we watched it against Cade Marlowe. I couldn't even believe what I was watching. Somebody even got, when he was in his bullpen throwing it, somebody got Brian Wu on camera who was standing in the back. And when he throws the pitch, Wu like puts his head into somebody's arm in a way that he's like, oh my God, what did I just watch?

[01:00:47] You got to see this thing. I saw the Wu reaction. That was pretty great, man. What is it? Is it like 90, 91, 89? What's the Velo on? 91 to 93. 90. Dang. Okay. Okay. And is it like a, the bottom just drops? Is it like a splitter? Or is it like, does it, can it fade at that velocity? I think it's straight down. Okay. It's just like, just almost like a splitter.

[01:01:14] He was telling us though, there's a different version that he can throw in a game versus in a bullpen. So like, that's, I think the big hangup. He needs, he was telling when we were chatting with them, he said he needs to find a version of the pitch that will not tip his pitches. He was worried. He was worried about that when, when throwing it in a bullpen. Getting the grip, you mean? Yeah. He's, he thought the grip would give it away.

[01:01:41] Is it because you can see his middle finger, middle finger up in the air out of his glove? It's like a big old flag. That's what it is, right? He, he lifts his middle finger up off the ball. He's, he was saying it was grip strength. Okay. Yeah. He said he's so relaxed with all of his other pitches, but when the changeup breaks 10 inches, he's gripping it really hard. You know, it's funny. Like I, Hey, I I'm in no position to tell Andres Munoz anything.

[01:02:05] Um, but I do think that there is a, like this feeling from some pitchers and I could see Mooney doing it. Cause he is so filthy of like every pitch has to be the nastiest pitch. I've talked to, I've talked to Brasher about this before and feeling like, oh man, if I got him looking bad on that slider, like wait till he sees this next slider. Right. And it's like, no, you just, just be 80% filthy. And on a like curve of a Munoz or Brasher curve, I don't mean like the pitch.

[01:02:34] I mean like the grading scale curve, like 80% nasty for those two guys is like 120 for anybody else. Right. And so I, I trust that Mooney will be able to find that kind of sweet spot of it because between his heater and his slider, even if this is just like a good pitch. Right. Just to have the variance with the other two, like that alone will make it nasty. And then if it's in a vacuum, just purely dirty now it's like a different stratosphere. So I am pumped for it, man.

[01:03:03] He's like, I mean, you guys have talked to him like he could not be a bigger teddy bear and just sweetheart of a guy. He just couldn't be nicer. He's, he is amazing. Like I always tell people this it's for as terrifying and fearsome and just filthy. He is on the mound as a pitcher. He is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. And I'm not even talking about nicest baseball players, just nicest people.

[01:03:27] It's always amazing to me how he will, especially actually most days he will stick like stand out in the outfield and sign autographs basically until a security guard tells him, Hey, like Andres, I think you got to get inside. Like he will stand out there forever and autograph for everybody. It's awesome. Good dude. And obviously him learning English is so impressive and to be able to do interviews now, like just rock, rock star of a guy.

[01:03:53] And he might be as good of a runner as he is a pitcher, which is amazing because he comes into camp and he's so slim now. And I'm like, okay, well, I guess I could see it. I've heard there. Yeah. Yeah. It's funny. My, uh, my now 10 year old, my oldest son, we were in pure edsburg training last year and I was filming these little hits with some of the players and my son was hanging out with me and we're the next one was going to be Mooney. And so we were waiting for him.

[01:04:21] So Andres comes over and we tape this thing and you know, Mooney's lower half man is like unbelievable. Like it's just, you know, you understand where his power comes from when you see how big his lower half is. And we all know like his track background and the triple jump and he does all this hurtling work each off season as well. And so I, I've always tried to get my, my, especially my oldest, who's kind of like at a point where he can start to implement things.

[01:04:51] I always tell him like your power, dude, your power comes from the ground. Use your legs. And it's so young for hard athletes to actually use their legs. They just want to use their upper body. And so I set Mooney up and he gave like this five minute stump speech to my 10 year old about all the, all the reasons why you need to be able to use your hamstring and your backside and why you need to be able to actually be mobile and get strong legs. And I was like, maybe this will actually take now because it's not going to happen if I tell

[01:05:19] him, but if Andres Muñoz tells my son, maybe, maybe things will change for him. And then how long do you think, I'm sorry. They, they only slightly have, so I'm going to need Mooney to do a refresher this spring. All right. How long do you think it's going to take you? Does it usually take you to catch up on everyone's new pitches? You know, what's funny about that is like, um, the Mariners, as you guys have seen, they do these kind of long winded media sessions with a bunch of players and they post them

[01:05:45] up on their YouTube page and they've done it with the most of the starters now. And so I, I do, I, I watch all of them from home before I get down there and take notes just so that I know who's thrown what, because like the last thing any of us want to do is be the new guy in camp and go up to George Kirby and ask him what new pitches he's thrown when he's already talked about it 20 times. So it does take a little bit of time, but I've also learned the hard way that just because

[01:06:13] they're throwing something in Maryvale against the Brewers, uh, doesn't mean that they're going to throw it in April against the Yankees. And I mean, if you go back a couple of years with Kirby and his splitter, he debuted it in spring training and that was like the big deal. The big talk was Kirby splitter and he didn't start throwing it until the early summer. So it still took more R and D for him to get to a point where he felt comfortable with it.

[01:06:39] Like last year, if my memory is correct, but last year was the first year he actually had the splitter for a full duration of a season. So I guess I say all that if, if Munoz comes out in April and isn't throwing his change up, that doesn't mean we're not going to see it. He just might still, as you were saying, need to, you know, tweak a little bit. Mm-hmm. If a such thing exists of these five starters, is there one you're looking at this year that you say he's going to take another jump or you really feel like he'll take another jump forward?

[01:07:09] Yeah, I would say it's Kirby. And I think I'm just, I mean, like, not that this takes the great courage. I'm just naturally high on George Kirby, which is a pretty ridiculous thing to say. I realize, um, I, I just think he's kind of like at that point where if he, finds whatever that next level is, this could be the year. I mean, it kind of tracks with what happened with Logan, which I guess kind of makes my answer a bit of a cop out.

[01:07:36] But I think what Bryce did last year, I never saw coming ever, ever, especially like his second half was insane. Like Snell and somebody else had a lower ERA post all-star break than Bryce Miller in baseball. And I think that, and I take fault for this, like that kind of got overlooked, I think. And I, I probably should have been pounding that drum a little bit more.

[01:08:01] Um, but I would say Kirby, the only thing that would surprise me from George Kirby is if he threw a hundred miles an hour and he's thrown 99 point something. So like nothing that he could do would surprise me because when you have elite level stuff and elite level command, it's like, okay, like tell me what you can't do. You can do anything right. And like, it's really almost limitless.

[01:08:27] So I would say he would be the guy, um, that I think could just go to kind of a different stratosphere and be truly one of the elites. And I think last year it was just kind of like the lows and by low, I mean individual starts. The low bar starts were really low, right? He just, when he's too much in the strike zone against the wrong team, it's a, that's a bad mix. So I think he's for him to do that in my amateur pitching knowledge, I would say he will need

[01:08:55] to continue to get better at throwing pitches outside of the strike zone, which is a real challenge for him because he just obviously does it so naturally. When you get down there and talk to Julio, what do you want to hear from him? Yeah, I've, it's funny when I, when I start working on notes for guys during the off season, I, I start writing down like questions that I have for them.

[01:09:20] And I think Julio is been in the game long enough and is mature enough despite his young age for me to just point blank, ask him, what will it take for you to have a strong April May? Like, what will it take? How are you approaching this? Because you, you can't tell me that Julio isn't thinking all winter. What do I do to have a great April May? I mean, he's not dumb.

[01:09:49] He also knows his value to the team and something else I want to ask Julio and I plan on it when I get down there is how does he feel when people say the Mariners go as Julio goes? Does he get upset by that? Does he feel like it's too much pressure? Does he like that? Does he welcome it? Like, how does he feel? Well, he, he should be able to answer those questions.

[01:10:18] And I have no doubt that he will because these are real, these are real things because I think we've, there's been a narrative around Julio by some that it's unfair to put that kind of pressure on Julio with his lack of service time and his youth. And like, I mean, his rookie year is 21 years old. Yeah. I totally agree with that. Year three. Uh, I don't know, man.

[01:10:46] Like you, not that he's asked for this necessarily, but he was like on a path to becoming a face of baseball. Like whatever that even means. He's a guy that the league office would want to put on billboards and put in commercials and put in the home run derby. Right. I mean, he's got it all. So like, if you're going to be doing that and you're going to have the contract, then these other things come along with it.

[01:11:12] It's just go ask Mookie, go ask Shohei, right? Like go ask Acuna, like all these guys who are megawatt superstars, the pressure of the team comes along with it. And like I was looking at the other day, the OPS in his career in the first three months, the last three months, it's like a 200 point difference. Yeah. Like, and I think last year, I think showed that the most and it extended the longest.

[01:11:40] Like, I think we all remember he was a league average hitter at the trade deadline last year. How, how are the Mariners supposed to be successful at that? If that, that, that is a thing. I, I'm as high on Julio as anybody. And I'm like, I'm so, I'm so grateful that my, like all the kids in the Northwest, including my kids get to have Julio. Like how great is that? You have this incredible superstar that you grow up with and watch play baseball.

[01:12:09] Um, but like, these are the questions and these are the things that come along with that. And he knows. And the great ones who win World Series and go to the All-Star game on a regular basis. And who knows, maybe even find their way into Cooperstown. They find a way to handle that pressure, channel it. And either it makes them perform better or they're able to block it out.

[01:12:35] And I think now year four, he, he should have ways to be able to do that. And I'm sure I'm positive because he cares too much. I'm positive that he has thought of ways to handle that. Uh, however, it affects him one way or the other. So I'm, I'm eager to kind of learn directly from him. I don't want to ask him those questions in May when the Mariners are playing the Red Sox. Right. But all I feel very comfortable asking those questions in the kind of, uh, decaffeinated nature of spring training.

[01:13:06] Last one I've got for you, Goldie, is this is more of a broad picture question, but you're a good person to ask. That's the Mariners season in 2025 is a success. If what happens? If Julio is a top three MVP finalist. Like it's that simple. I mean, I understand people being upset with the Mariners off season. Like I get it, but if Julio is Julio, if Julio, I'm going to start, I'm going to phrase it differently.

[01:13:33] If Julio is who we think Julio is, right? Who he's shown flashes of for months at a time over the course of his career, the Mariners in the playoffs. I was looking at the Royals and the Mariners from last year. And I was thinking, well, how did they get in? Right. Right. Like, and what was a good division? And obviously they were part of that.

[01:14:02] Like that was a very competitive division. And the Royals did what nobody thought they could do, which is make the playoffs and have a great year. And so I first, I looked at the pitching. Mariners had the best overall staff ERA in baseball. ERA is not everything, but it's a good starting point. The Royals were not far behind. They were maybe just outside the top five, like kind of in that stratosphere.

[01:14:24] And so they were close enough to the Mariners in pitching where you can say, like, that was a great pitching team. So they both, we see an equal strength. So then I pulled up the individual hitters pages on fan graphs. Man, I forgot how amazing of a season Bobby Wood Jr. had. I mean, he had a 10 win season. It was unreal.

[01:14:51] Is WRC plus, I want to say, was 160 something? Okay. I mean, if Aaron Judge doesn't have another nuclear unprecedented season, he's the shoe and MVP. Like as soon as you said Mariners Royals, I'm like, oh, I know where you're going with this. And so it's like, and then, all right. So you're like, all right, wit, like unreal. I don't know. Like if this is not a knock on wit, if that's his career year, nobody would be like, oh, what a flame out.

[01:15:19] Like if you're, if you're 90% of that on a regular basis going forward, like you're still unreal. You're still one of the elites in the game. So I sorted every player with like a minimum of, I don't even know, like 50 plate appearances for the Royals. I sorted them by WRC plus. And it was wit who was obviously like almost 70% better than league average.

[01:15:42] And then it was, I don't remember the exact order, but it was like Vinny Pasquintino who missed a lot of time near the end because of like the hand injury and Salvador Perez. And neither one were like 150, 140, 130. It was like one O something and one like 10 something. Okay. And then, and then, you know who it was? It's everybody who you kind of remember.

[01:16:08] It was MJ Melendez, Kyle Isbell. Uh, like I, Frazier was on the team, right? Uh, like guys who you, big league, not retreads, but guys who were kind of in the last stages of their careers or young guys. You're like, okay, you have one tool and that's it.

[01:16:33] And so the point is he was an aircraft carrier with, and everybody else has kind of hopped on his back. And that with great pitching wrote him to the post season. Like, I don't think, I'm not going to say that Julio is going to post a 10 win season. No one can go into the year saying that about another player, right? It's like, it's too extreme. And I also don't think that Julio will do it the same way Witt did it, right?

[01:17:00] Witt had 200 hits, well over 300, um, like 40 plus doubles, 30, like low 30 homers. Julio would be more damage, fewer hits, right? Like that's just his skill set more. Like for Julio it would be, oh, he, he has a 40, 40 season. And maybe the stolen bases is closer to 50. Um, and he's hitting in the upper 200s. Okay.

[01:17:30] And he's on basing 350, 360 something just to off the top of my head. Um, like that's how Julio would get it done. But if, if Julio could do his best wit, which is not a crazy thing to think about. Like these are, these are two guys who were as highly touted of prospects as the game offered when they were coming up. Like the Mariners are great. Mariners are in great shape.

[01:17:58] You just, the difference was that Witt was a superstar for the whole year. And Julio was a superstar for, since July basically. Right? Right. And as we know, we've heard Dan talk about it. Like there's a lot of games between opening day and July. And the Mariners, the Mariners need Julio for, they need him for the whole thing. And that's not, that's not to say, I want to be clear.

[01:18:20] That's not to say that Julio can't have a slump or shouldn't be given the grace to have a bad homestand or a bad two weeks or even three weeks. The, the point is he and the Mariners, this is a Mariners thing as much as a Julio thing. They each need to find a way to just simply raise the floor. They need to get to a point where the lows don't make you take the headset off and go, is this is, is this the worst it's going to get all year? It can't get worse than this. Right.

[01:18:52] Like that, that, that's what can't happen because when you miss out on the playoffs by a game in consecutive seasons, like it doesn't take much, right? It doesn't take much to get that back. And if they can just avoid like the Patrick Corbin game, remember that a couple of years ago? Yeah. Yeah. That's like always the, I think we've reached the low. Gary and I, that's where we always go. Is this the new Patrick Corbin?

[01:19:17] Um, uh, like if you can avoid that and keep your peaks and just find a higher floor for the whole season. It's like, Hey man, you don't have to squint hard and understand why the Mariners feel like they can make the playoffs with who they have in that clubhouse. But it's going to take a lot of players rebounding from a bad year last year.

[01:19:43] And it will take the collective hole, not letting it sink so far low that you have to dig yourself out in the last two, three, four weeks. Last thing for me, Goldie. I know you love rare baseball events like immaculate innings. I'm curious. Uh, is there any that you have not seen in person that are not like checked off your list of what you want to see?

[01:20:07] Well, I mean, I've seen an immaculate inning against the Mariners, but I've never seen a Mariners immaculate inning. And I must say that would be much more enjoyable than against the Mariners. I did. I actually called, I believe I called it an Edwin Diaz spring training immaculate inning, which I treated just like a regular season immaculate inning. Um, I thought it was the greatest thing ever.

[01:20:35] Um, I would love to see a four homer game, man. Like that's the club. That's the club you want to be in. Like, I mean, there are some rum dums in the four homer game club. Um, but overall that's a dude's dudes list of guys who have made that happen. I mean, the Mariners haven't had that many guys hit three homers in the game. Um, so obviously Cammy did it, uh, with the four homers, but I would love to do that.

[01:21:04] Uh, I'm also, the thing that I have called that I got super geeked up about and I never even had thought about it is when Cal homered from both sides of the plate at Fenway. And the second one went over the monster on a Lansdowne street. I thought that was like, well, like it's hard to get much cooler than this, man. Like this is awesome. Um, but the, the sneaky thing that I really love that I get too excited about are, are pitcher put outs, put outs.

[01:21:34] Like when a pitcher catches a pop fly, I, I just think that's the greatest man. I just, I just love it so much. I think it's like the ultimate swag move for a pitcher. So I get pretty, I get pretty bummed when they get called off. Um, but if that, if that happens, I will become far too excited for what the moment calls for. And people, you can roast me on Twitter all you want. I deserve it. Totally acceptable. I'll own it, but you can't clip my wings, man. I take a lot of joy in that.

[01:22:05] Goldie, this has been awesome. Really, really appreciate you taking some time for us today. We're really looking forward to watching you on television all season long. And just like today, I'm sure there won't be a single hair out of place. Notice we made it through an hour and did not talk about your hair. Well, I did have to touch it up obviously before we went on. I do want to say something to you guys. I remember you two when you were just in diapers doing this thing.

[01:22:27] And I think the Mariners, this is a market that really was thirsting for some level-headed, like can be critical, but level-headed baseball talk. And I had no idea when you guys started this what it would turn into. And I just think it's so great for the fans and this fan base to have people like you to be able to learn the game from and learn the personalities, the players.

[01:22:59] Because baseball, as you know, is unlike any other sport. And if you are too reactionary, you can end up looking like a real clown. And despite your guys' youth, I've been super impressed by how level-headed you are. Now, I have heard some of Lyle's rants, so I kind of stepped into that one. But generally, I guess maybe I'm speaking more to TJ, how level-headed you guys are.

[01:23:24] Because baseball is a very nuanced game in every element. Pitching, hitting, defense, strategy, the whole season. I mean, everything about it is nuanced. And there are very few blanket statements that fit in baseball. And it takes a smart person who has seen a lot of baseball and seen it well to be able to talk about it. And for a couple of yahoos who started in your mom's basement to be able to get to where you are today

[01:23:52] and really talk baseball smart, that's cool, man. And I'm super happy for both of you guys, and I'm glad you're doing what you're doing. Thank you, Goli. That means a lot, especially coming from you. Yeah, for sure. Thank you, Goli. Easy on the rants, Lyle. All right. Off-season's over. We're good. One of our favorite interviews every time we have him on. Hope you enjoyed that with Goli. We always love listening to all of his broadcast stories.

[01:24:21] We're fired up for him to be the new TV voice of the Mariners. Hopefully you guys got some good perspective on him when we started talking baseball. And ultimately, you can hear him for the first time in just a handful of days when the Mariners have their first spring training games up en route. And Goli will be down in Arizona bringing it to all you guys. So, always appreciate his time. A reminder, we did do one extra sit-down interview at spring training with Logan Evans, our guy. That'll be out a week from Wednesday.

[01:24:51] So, stay on the lookout for that because another conversation we really enjoyed. Again, that'll be out a week from Wednesday with Logan Evans. With that, that'll just about wrap up this edition of the Marine Layer Podcast. You guys know the drill. You want to listen to the full-form podcast, you can do so wherever you get your audio pods. Make sure to download. Make sure to subscribe. Make sure to rate and review, at least on the audio side. Leave it five stars. Really does help us out a lot. Like, comment, and hit that subscribe button on YouTube. Follow us everywhere on social media, at MarineLayerPod.

[01:25:20] And go check out our Patreon. It's brand new. Would love to see you get involved over there. That's TJ. I'm Lyle. As always, we thank you guys for tuning in. Talk to you soon.