Episode 23: Brock Huard (Seattle Sports 710 AM/FOX Sports), Mariners Opening Weekend, and Robbie Ray Injury Concerns

00:00:00 Speaker 1: Welcome to episode number twenty three of The Marine Layer Podcast with TJ. Matthewson and Lyle Goldstein. On today's pod, we're joined by Brock hu Or to host on Seattle Sports seven to ten in Seattle, also a national college football analyst on Fox Sports. You see him all over the place. We'll chop it up with him about some Mariners baseball over the first weekend. We got to talk to Brock yesterday, so we got a full series to digest with him and get his take on this team in the season and really how it's going to roll out. We got a lot of segments for you. We got our three Mariners storylines, we got our first umpire of the week. We'll take a look around baseball with our MOLB wrap around. As always, we will close out the show with Speak Your Mind. Let's get it rolling, and we welcome you into this episode of the Marine Layer Podcast here on Tuesday, April fourth, and the season's over. 00:01:04 Speaker 2: Burn it down, Trade Julio for prospects. It's time to flip ta Oscar. It's probably time to flip Luis Castillo two. I mean they're one and four. There's no recovering from this. 00:01:16 Speaker 1: You'll hear it in my in my speak your mind. I really did not miss Twitter during Mariner games. I mean, man, there's so there's some people who I swear they have some drafts saved in case the Mariners come out and struggle to hit the ball in the first weekend. They're like, Oh, I got this banger, I got this beggar Ooo. You didn't have any bangers, though. Wow, there it was. It was a pretty It was a pretty calm. I don't think we I don't think between the two of us there was there was a rage. Sweet there was not. I don't think. I think it was very, very relaxed. No. 00:01:50 Speaker 2: I feel like usually the two of us are pretty good about not rage tweeting, Like whether it be on our Marine Layer podcast Twitter account or our own Twitter accounts, were usually pretty rational, at least on line. 00:02:00 Speaker 3: We were at the game last night. 00:02:02 Speaker 2: Being Monday night, and I was getting a little annoyed that Matt Festa was throwing like fifty pitches out of the bullpen. I mean, the Mariners weren't going to come back and win that game. I guess I was just rolling my eyes a little bit because I felt like three runs was possible to come back from. But again, that's neither here nor there. It's not the end of the world. But yeah, we're not firing off ridiculous tweets like some of these people. 00:02:24 Speaker 1: So we're also at Saturday too. Another Mariners lost quick though, I mean first takes on the pitch clock, it goes by like you don't notice that the game's faster, but you really just don't notice. I was like, I wasn't like paying attention to it all that much. Except probably my favorite moment of the weekend, since there are really no wins to talk about, is Karen Check getting counted down twice over the course of the first four games of the season against the Cleveland Guardians, which was really entertaining, especially on Saturday. The rattling, though did not work. It was really fun to see though on Thursday. 00:02:58 Speaker 2: Oh, the rattling work Thursday. It just didn't work Saturday for Karen Jack. 00:03:03 Speaker 1: He couldn't do. He couldn't do his whole like pre his pre pitch routine where he flips the ball up into the air, he puts it off the back of his glove. He rubs his hair, probably coated full of some sticky substance studies lathering up the ball with and then taking his time on the mound and like adjusting his pants and fluffing up his jersey before he finally looks in and and wiggles around and looks towards his catcher, and he couldn't do that, and that caused him to air mail ball to the backstop. 00:03:32 Speaker 2: For the longest time, baseball's worst kept secret was that the Astros were cheating, and then it got discovered. Now Baseball's worst kept secret is that James Karen Jack is doctoring baseballs like it's just about every time out that he does it. In fact, I counted on Thursday, I think he went to his hair seven times in his outing and then once ty Frantz hit the home run he got knocked out of the game. But like it's it's blatantly obvious he does it. I don't know how he hasn't gotten caught for it yet, especially when pitchers always get checked. 00:04:00 Speaker 3: But who knows. 00:04:01 Speaker 2: If I had to put some money on it, I would bet he gets caught or something sooner rather than later. 00:04:06 Speaker 4: And who checks the player's lyle? Well, it's umpires, right, and what do we love on this podcast nothing more than MLB umpires head. So hey, there's a teaser stick around for later in the show, and you're gonna have some umpire talk on percent. 00:04:22 Speaker 1: Okay, low, Let's get into R three storylines for the Mariners this week. Storyline number one, Robbie Ray goes on the injured list after his first start on Friday night went three plus. I mean, his stuff wasn't really there if he was sitting low nineties on his fastball, didn't throw his splitter he was, he was struggling with his command. He walked five guys. He's on the fifteen day il with a left flexer strain that's right here in the forearm near your elbow. Gives some cause for concern and really something the Mariners did not want to see, especially from a guy who's throwing the ball as well as Robbie Ray was down in spring training and now they'll be without him for about a month and a half. It seems like. 00:05:04 Speaker 3: It's not great. 00:05:05 Speaker 2: We didn't think that all five starters would make every start again this year. 00:05:09 Speaker 3: That just doesn't happen. It never happens in one season. 00:05:11 Speaker 2: It certainly doesn't happen two seasons in a row, But to have it happen this soon, that's the killer. 00:05:17 Speaker 3: Now, the flip. 00:05:18 Speaker 2: Side of this is it is a really really good thing the Mariners didn't trade Chris Flexen because I'll tell you what, they'd be in deep shit right now if they had traded Chris Flexen and a lot of years when they have one of their starters go down, they have to scramble and find guys who probably aren't fit to be starting long term starting. But it's not somebody like Robert Duggars starting anymore. Like we know Chris Flexen can start. So it's not great to lose Robbie Ray. You said it, he looked like the best arm on the team in spring. But at least you have somebody to fill in the gap. 00:05:51 Speaker 1: And let's remind people, Bryce Miller is not George Kirby. They are EON's apart. When it comes to starting pitching prospects. For the Mariners bringing up Kirby last year, it's nowhere close to the same scenario, right, Like, we don't know what Bryce Miller does in the big leagues. Bryce, George Kirby was about as ready as could be when he's coming up. Last year, Bryce Miller. I mean, you could argue he looks good, but it's not the it's not the same level. So I don't think you can really argue that. 00:06:20 Speaker 2: He may start as a reliever. We don't know if he's going to profile as a reliever long term. He could be a starter long term and take that five spot. Yeah, we don't know. Bryce Miller does not have the command Kirby has. He's not throwing with the velocity and command combined that Kirby did in the minors. He doesn't have the same stuff that Kirby has. It's not the same at all like Bryce. Like, let's not knock Bryce Miller too much. This guy could be really good if everything clicks, but it's not the surefire prospect that Kirby was. 00:06:48 Speaker 1: Last thing. On this point, it's a good thing. Chris Flexen came in the one highlight of that Friday night, came in through four innings and is stretched out and ready to go right in that spot. He will be pitching. If you're listening to this when it comes out tonight or today actually against show Hey o Tani, depending on when you're listening about this. They're not gonna it's the difference between Chris Flexen and Robbie Ray, Like, there is a difference there, but Chris Flexen is a major league starter. In our starting pitching preview, we highlighted, hey, we're high on his slider. If he's able to really highlight that pitch this year. He looks good when he came in and pitched in some quote unquote garbage innings on Friday. So if he can just you know, hold serve in the rotation, the worst case scenario happens with Robbie Ray, you have your starter there, and if you want to add another one at the deadline, that's more of a luxury at this point. 00:07:40 Speaker 3: Definitely. 00:07:41 Speaker 2: Also, I just realized we didn't do this right at the start, So I'm just gonna say it really quickly for fan for anybody listening. But when we do these season podcasts now, these weekly season podcasts, we didn't want to go back and recap every game that just kind of drags on. So we felt like the best way TJ and I could recap all these weeks when we go back and talk about the games is to just pick three big storylines throughout the week. So that's what we're doing with these in season shows rather than recapping. Everybody knows they started one and four, so we're picking some storylines throughout that week. Okay, storyline number two a little bit more on the positive note. Logan Gilbert absolutely dazzled in his first start. He's gotten off to good starts before. He won al Pitcher of the Month last April when he put up that four zero era. He's off to a phenomenal start here in twenty twenty three, shutting out the Guardians in his first outing, even though they lost. But for a guy that got hit really hard last year, this is definitely a positive sign. 00:08:39 Speaker 1: He actually got to throw his splitter, and he threw it when he actually when you're bringing in a new pitch, when he actually wanted to. It's like third time through the lineup. That's instantly when he brought out the splitter. He threw it eight times. He got seven swings and four swings and misses. That's what you want with that pitch. You want him to get to that point where he's comfortable throwing that pitch fifteen to two twenty times a game and working it in maybe second time through the lineup, or maybe it eventually turns into his primary strikeout pitch if he's going to really run up a rate like that. When I went back and I watched some clips of the of that splitter that he was thrown in, some of the swings he was getting it, I mean, there are some pretty decent gaps between the bats and the split. They're really really struggling to see that pitch out of his hand. And I thought it really complimented his fastball well. And most importantly, Lyle, he did not get hit hard at all. He only surrendered four hard hit balls the entire game. What was the one thing we were concerned about with Logan Gilbert going into the season. 00:09:33 Speaker 2: That he gets hit extremely hard and he didn't do that in his first start, which was great, Like, I mean, oh, go ahead, Oh, I was just going to say that for Logan in the six shutout innings or the six innings of one run ball that he threw. So he gave up the one run on the home run, but six good innings with the seven strikeouts, Logan Gilbert is very, very tuned in to analytics and sabermetrics and pitch shapes all that stuff. So for a guy that got hit around pretty hard last year, I'll bet you he knows. He didn't rank well in terms of hard hit rate and average exit velocity, which is probably a big reason he went and ditched the change up added the splitter instead, which you just talked about looked deadly in his first start. And he also changed the shape of his curveball last year, like we've talked about. So when you look at those two pitches, there are basically new offerings that he throws. He has a chance to take another step, and we just saw that in his first outing against a good team. 00:10:31 Speaker 1: And his curveball was awesome. He threw it twelve times, six swings and four missues. That's pretty good. On six swings you get four misses. I mean he's getting He was getting guys to chase it in the dirt, which is what you want with a good curveball with a nice sharp breakdown into the dirt. And he's able to rack up three of his strikeouts on that pitch. So in conclusion here for logan, I mean, at times in his big league career he has struggled to really put away hitters, which is probably part of the reason he gets hit hard, because guys just spoils spoil, spoil, and then barrel of baseball up into the outfield. Well, now you get, you know, a little bit more swing and miss in your repertoire, and it's going to turn out well for you, and you're gonna actually able to put hitters away. 00:11:11 Speaker 2: Let's just see how he does in June, because again I'm very, very encouraged by how his first start looked. But again, he threw really well in April last year, and after that is when it started to slightly decrease and decrease, and then those summer months was when he really started to get hit hard. So if he's thrown anything close to this in June or July, that's everything you could ask for. So let's just hope this continues as the season progresses. 00:11:36 Speaker 1: Our third storyline of this first weekend is we're going to highlight one player, but it could be in general. Ti Oscar Hernandez struggling this weekend, just one for seventeen with seven strikeouts, a guy who is supposed to be right in the middle of that mirror's lineup, and he he struggled. He absolutely crushed the ball on Sunday for his only hit so far here in this season. But as here we are here recording before two Tuesday's game, about ten minutes before first pitch. Again, he's only got one hit in seventeen tries. But it's not only ta Oscar, hernandez Lyle. Combined, over the first first five games of the season, all the Mariners newcomers are a combined five of thirty at the plate. That's an sixty average. That's a really hard number to look at. And what it does highlight the fact, well, yeah, no, shit, they didn't score any runs. 00:12:28 Speaker 2: Julio's hitting the ball well, typ France is hitting the ball well. Cal's hitting the ball well. There's not a lot of other guys doing a whole lot. I mean, those three are hitting. But the rest of that lineup, eh, Yeah, it's been a slow start and ta Oscar is kind of the headline of it because he was the headline move of the offseason. 00:12:47 Speaker 3: People expected him to come in and. 00:12:49 Speaker 2: Be an impact middle of that lineup, and guess what he's still gonna be. I know there's been a decent amount of cursing on this podcast, and maybe maybe TJ and I in this episode just felt like we needed. 00:13:00 Speaker 3: To get it out. 00:13:01 Speaker 2: But you know, what like, people need to calm the fuck down a little bit about Taoscar Hernandez. Again getting back to marin Ors Twitter, people are already making the Jesse Winker comps like it's been five games. Tay Oscar profiles way better than Winkers an offensive player. Like, let's just let things settle a little bit before we go out and say things like that, he's still hitting the ball hard. 00:13:24 Speaker 3: He's gonna be fine. 00:13:26 Speaker 1: If there's like one thing to nitpick. I'm not wasn't a huge fan of his at bats, but again, this is a guy who didn't get as many at bats in spring training because he went off to go play for the Dominican team. But he also for the Dominican team didn't get to play as much as he really wanted to, And that kind of throws a rut in your spring training. You're trying to get your at bats, you're trying to get your timing down. You go off to play on that just loaded Dominican roster and you're just lost in the shuffle behind everyone else, and you you don't get the opportunities up there at the plate, and you go, you know, the X amount of time without getting enough at bats, you're gonna lose your timing and he's got to come back. And he's got a like a week and a half until opening day, so of course it's going to be an adjustment. He is realizing though, that the ball doesn't definitely doesn't carry as much. He had a high fly ball on Sunday that he hit pretty well but died up there in the Quincetentton Marine layer up there in center field. Hit it to the wrong part of the ballpark. But you know, he'll a justin. He still hits the ball harder than probably anybody on this roster, and that's including Julio Robieguez. 00:14:29 Speaker 2: Taoscar's striking out just under thirty seven percent of the time through five games, and again it's only been five games, but yes, thirty seven percent rate is high. It's gonna come down. I'm not saying it's gonna come down under twenty percent, because we all know strikeouts are going to be a part of tay Oscar's game. But I think is the dust settles, he's gonna find his groove and hit the way he has for the majority of his career. Oh I forgot, I said cal Julio and Ty were going off. Suarez is in that category two, but everybody else, Yeah, they have to pick it up. And it's probably you're all going to start with ta Oscar Hernandez, who's expected to be the second or third best player hitter on this team. 00:15:06 Speaker 1: I think it's a little irresponsible to worry about offense five games into April, because it is harder to hit in April. Pitchers are always ahead of a hitter, always ahead of hitters at this time of year anyways, And again it's a five game sample. Like, if we're going to complain about the offense, let's check bick back in what do we say May first? So if they're still struggling to score runs on May first, then we can have a discussion if I want to say one thing about, you know, the offense. I mean, I'm not personally a huge fan of Tommy Lastella dhing, but at this point, again, it's been five games and he's not going to be their full season d H and he probably won't be on the roster much longer until Dylan Moore comes back, right, So that's not really something you can nitpick all that much. But let's just let's pump the Brakes here on on some overreactions just five games into the season. I got I mean, I got asked I get back down here to Corbalas today and and you know, one of our radio hosts asked me, is like, TJ, what's he up with the Mariners? So like, are you worried? I'm like, no, I'm not not yet. If I'm worried, you will know. I will tell you I'm worried. 00:16:13 Speaker 3: And I've got news for people too. 00:16:15 Speaker 2: This might not be what everybody wants to hear, but the Mariner's road trip that they're about to go on, They're going to Cleveland to play in Progressive Field, cold weather, then they're going to Wrigley Field in Chicago, cold weather, that the offense might have its issues on this upcoming road trip too. Hopefully it results in some more wins and the pitching picks up a little bit. But it doesn't mean that after that road series is a time to just throw away the season either, because again, let the weather warm up a little bit, and these guys are going to start to hit, especially tay Oscar. So yeah, April is way too early to be making predictions, especially two weeks in April. 00:16:53 Speaker 1: I like that segment right there. That's a I think that's that puts a pretty good bow tie on this on our three storylines here for this first week, we don't get to talk about any of these storylines with Brock Heward having recorded it yesterday, but we do, we do touch on, we do touch on a variety of different things with Brock. Only only had thirty minutes with Brocks, so we had to condense it a little bit and fit in his time frame. But it really was great get to talk to Brock Hewart a quarterback talking about baseball. I do love it. I mean I listened to Brock and Sock quite often if I'm trying to get some content on the Seahawks and Mariners. And you know, Brock's very good when it comes to paying attention to Seattle sports. Just fight not living in the Seattle area anymore, still keeps up to date and and it'll be really good to hear from Brock. 00:17:41 Speaker 2: He was fantastic. Like you said, I mean, football is his primary sport. But don't let that for you. I mean he knows his stuff on the Mariner. He'll hear it in the interview with us and the guy loves baseball, which was really cool and why it was really fun to interview him. Just to give people a little bit of a timeline, this segment TJ and I are recording here is Tuesday. The rest of the show, including the interview with Brock, was Monday, So just a piece of timeline together for everybody. But it was a great interview, and we don't want to keep you guys any longer, so let's get to our interview with Brock Hewart. All right, we welcome Brock Hewart On Brock, former NFL quarterback, college football analyst for Fox Sports, and if you want to hear him talk about the Mariners, you can tune into the Brock and Salk Show every Monday through Friday on seven ten Seattle Sports. Brock, it's great to have you on Brock and Stalk Shows. Back third times a charm. How much did you miss Salk's rank segments? Is that what brought you back? 00:18:37 Speaker 5: Yeah, that would be let's see a zero, Yeah, that would be a zero. There was no ranking in the first iteration, there was no ranking in the second iteration. And then to be fair, when I left and we still did the podcast, like you guys are doing We did a weekly podcast for a year plus, and I realized how desperately he needed the reunion. He needed us us back. Ranked grew in the Mike Salk Show, and we do have a lot of fun with it. It's an outlet for him, and you know, just as a friend. We all have friends that you know, have quirky, strange, weird stuff in their lives, and we you know, kind of allow them. It's kind of how I feel with Ranked when it comes to the Brock and Salt Show. 00:19:18 Speaker 1: Is the best way to do Ranked? Do you have honorable mentions? Or can you only do one through five? 00:19:24 Speaker 5: I mean there's there, yeah, I mean Mara is very linear. Okay, Maura with like one through five. I'm not quite as strict and linear as Maura. But then Sulk and justin just go crazy, right. I mean it's not even honorable mentions. It's you know, sometimes fifteen twenty thirty deep kind of like an all league team in high school, there should be like an all league team, second team all league and maybe a few honorable mentions. But once you stretch to ten, fifteen twenty, we're just kind of, I don't know, we're just kind of kind of losing the merit of it all. But as I said, you give them their outlets, they and every show with it. They have a blast doing it. And I certainly know those two know their music inside and out for sure. 00:20:05 Speaker 1: Speaking of ranking Sprack, if we want to pivot this over to baseball and get the subject of the Mariners sort of on the top of our minds. You pose this question on Twitter the other day, and it really was a fantastic question, And I don't think people the age of Lyle and myself age twenty five can really encompass this of what this question is. But the question you proposed was where does this Mariner season rank in terms of anticipation? You've got a lot of response to that. What is your answer to that question? 00:20:37 Speaker 5: Yeah, this probably goes back to so in the mid nineties. I was in college at the University of Washington, right in ninety five, I was a freshman at U dub living in Hagott Hall and feeling that dorm just rock, you know, A through an earthquake and b through the Mariners run there and just that amazing run. And to have the Griffis and the Buners and the a Rod and those guys and then you know a few of them washed away and moved away, and here comes each your row and a season and oh one that nobody saw coming. I'd say it's somewhere between those two. It's not an identical to either of them. Because I think we saw last year coming. I think the foundation was being built and you could see, boy, if Julio pops and this rotation pops and stays healthy, they've got a chance to end this drought. And they did, and not only end it, they go to Toronto and have two magical games and three amazing games that didn't go their way against the Astros, but still remarkably competitive games. So I would say it's it was kind of a morph between you know, the time you guys were born and then when you were newbies way back when and oh one and O two. 00:21:45 Speaker 1: So okay, so let's say your order would go probably ninety six oh two. 00:21:50 Speaker 6: Yep, this year, and then maybe even last season. 00:21:53 Speaker 5: Yeah, probably even then last season where there was some expectation, but you didn't fully know how all of it would come together and what it would all look like. I think even though the first four games of the season, notwithstanding is kind of disappointing start. I think we all feel like, all right, we know this Mariner's team, right, we know who Julio Rodriguez is. Now, we know who Logan and Kirby are. Now we know who Anthony not Anthony, always call him Anthony. Anthony Munios was the old left tackle, Andres Munios is on the back end with Brash, and so we know so much more of this team. And now we got to hope that they can handle expectation and that some of these new pieces are not Jesse Winker right, that some of these new pieces are actually difference makers. And you know, we'll, I think learn that here pretty quickly in the first couple months. 00:22:41 Speaker 2: We're recording this here on a Monday, and you guys just did your show recap the first Mariners weekend against the Guardians. You mentioned Taoscar, Hernandez. That's a good segue here. How many people this morning we're trying to tie the Jesse Winker comms to the Taoscar And obviously it's only been four games and people are kind of jumping the gun, but how many how many fans this morning we're kind of itching to say something about Taoscar. 00:23:04 Speaker 5: Well, when the new Bees go three for forty and he was what one for fourteen, it certainly gives them some fodder for like, hey, hold on a second. You know, we heard this whole thing last year about this platoon with Winker, and look at his baseball card and his track records amazing and nine hundred ops against righty's and YadA, YadA, YadA. And then he came to this stadium and he hit in it and he was like, oh, good lord, Like this marine layer in April and May is real. And I think it affected him. Playing every day affected him. He's not a defender. Taosker's not a plus defender, but he's not a negative defender as Winker was. And it actually played some pretty good defense in his opening weekend, other than a throw that went a little errant and was just unfortunate. But no, I wouldn't say, yeah. I think with what they did last year, there's going to be some benefit of the doubt. Last year they got no benefit of the doubt. The nineteen years have preceded it, they got no benefit of the doubt. But when you win, you get to the playoffs. One hundred and fifty six thousand people show up in the first four days, you get a little more time, a little more benefit of the doubt. But the Colton Wongs and the aj Pollocks and the Cooper Humbles and the Teoscar Hernandez, they got to feel what April in that stadium on a cold weekend can feel like. And it's not idyllic for hitting a baseball at times. 00:24:25 Speaker 1: What did really just jump out you this weekend? If there's one thing. 00:24:30 Speaker 5: Who I mean, the injury to Robbie Ray is the one that just jumps out that you knew right if we would have taped this in the six months ago or in the offseason, the three of us would have said, we know that this pitching staff, based on history, is not going to start every game every time out all five starters as they did a season ago. We knew that that was not going to happen. But to have it happen eleven innings into the season on that one strikes you. That's kind of like a loud Robbie Ray grunt right at you, like, oh crap, you know, I knew that this was going to be inevitable. It was going to be a lat gonna be a shoulder going to be a finger blister, going to be something, a hamstring, something is going to keep one of these five away from a start or two or a month. But to have it be in that forearm where Robbie Ray, who came out this spring and just was blistering, right, I mean, I think rocking all of us ninety seven on the radar gun this first couple times out in Puria like that just was unheard of. And unfortunately, as I said, eleven innings eleven innings into this season, that was the resounding takeaway. That was the resounding shot. That was the resounding Okay, I think now you see why Jerry Depoto and Justin Hollander didn't trade pitching assets, you know, didn't move Marco or Flexen or Bryce Miller or you know, some of the starting pitching depth they have because inevitably you're going to have to have that depth this season and you're gonna have to have it now. 00:25:58 Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we're all on the same boat. Like you can't expect all five starters to make thirty two starts, right, But to just see it happened the way it happened to Robbie Ray this weekend, and it wasn't even like he exident in the middle of his start. We all kind of just woke up on Saturday, got the alert and we're like, oh, he's out. And to have it happen so soon is Yeah, it's a little bit of a blow to the team for sure. 00:26:18 Speaker 5: Yeah, and that maybe explained some of the control issues, the five walks again, stuff that you just didn't see in Peoria. Obviously there's gonna be a heavy watch, you know. I think the other takeaway is Jared Kilnick, you know, And you know, Shannon Dreyer had said to us a couple months ago and it had stuck with me. When I asked her, I said, Okay, Shannon, give me give me a Jared Kilnick comp Right. We're in NFL Draft season. We may get to that at the end of the podcast. We'll see how much I talk and how much time we have left on this thing. But an NFL draft, you know season, it's always Okay, who's this guy's camp, you know, who does he compare to, who's this size of strength, this background? You know, who does he project to? And I remember asking Shannon this offseason, like, Shannon, who is the Jared killing a success? Story, who's the one that had six hundred at bats first couple of years up? Young guy struggled mightily, but then turned it and became a difference maker, became a stud. 00:27:17 Speaker 6: There's not really that guy. 00:27:19 Speaker 5: I'm like, what of all these years really last ten twenty years. Well, there've been guys that have struggled and become good players, But to become an elite player, become you know, some of these young superstars a Hulu Rodriguez, you don't see that. They usually don't struggle for six hundred major league at bats the way that Jared did the first two years. So gonna be a heavy watch. That's the other takeaway from the weekend. Started nice, right, a little single Friday night, little opposite field double, great to see, and then three strikeouts and then a moment or two that you'd like to see hit a fastball, just didn't square them up. And so will that will be a watch here the first five, six, seven, eight weeks of this season because he's going to be given ample opportunity to pay off what he did this offseason. All the story's written about in the spring, but ultimately you got to hit big league pitching. Ultimately you got to hit big league fastballs. Ultimately, you gotta through seven hundred, eight hundred bats show that you can hit at this level. And I think as a Mariner fan, you're really rooting for that to happen. 00:28:21 Speaker 1: Bro the comp we've used on this podcast, which Lyle came up with and I think is a really good one, is Kyle Tucker of the Astros. I don't think he struggled necessarily for about six hundred plate appearances, but he did struggle a decent amount when he came up for Houston. And now you could argue, I mean, he's a top ten outfielder in all of baseball, which is best case scenario for Jared Kelnick. But I think you know that that's a bit of a stretch to ask a twenty three year old like, hey, yeah, you're going to turn around this full season and turn to Kyle Tucker in one season. I just don't think that's that's a realistic expectation. But if we're thinking of, really, what is a successful season for Jared Kellnik. Are we talking twenty home runs in a two thirty average and the strikeout rate is not thirty percent. 00:29:09 Speaker 5: That would be a statistically enormously significant step forward off of the career one sixty eight. I think he's sitting at right now. So yeah, you give me seventy points on a batting average, you give me twenty home runs. We know he's going to steal bases, we know he's going to get an extra base. We know he can play a good left field, which is maybe we're that Tucker comp who's an elite defender with a big time arm as well. And I'll tell you this, Lyle, why don't you send me some of your comps. You know that will be a good Maybe Tuesday on the Brocken Salk Show, I can give you guys a little pop and say, you know what, there was a name that a friend of mine came up with, and a podcast came up with, and we're talking, and let's hope, you know, Jared turns it here quickly. Let's hope against these angels he finds some hits, because I think the big thing for him with young players is when you look at that board and you try not to it's kind of like a golf leader board right in on the PGA tour. I'm not gonna look at that leaderboard. I'm not gonna look at the leader to kind of see where I'm at. And when Jared steps in the box and you see one sixty eight, one seventy seven, one fifty two, like, come on, you know, like it would do I think a lot here in the first. 00:30:16 Speaker 6: Few weeks of the season. 00:30:17 Speaker 5: If you can get some hits under your belt, you can just start to get that batting average to bounce. It can be in that two thirty two forty two fifty range. If it's anywhere around there, that is a significant step forward for him. 00:30:30 Speaker 1: Oh I'm happy to set it down. Oh go ahead, low. 00:30:33 Speaker 2: No, I was gonna say, I'm happy to send you some comps, and these aren't perfect player comps. But a couple of the examples I've used is, so Kelnick's only twenty three, right, and he came up so early. He'd played twenty seven games above a ball before he debuted, like you didn't have a ton of time in the high level minor league. But like an example I use is is I'm not saying he's going to turn into this by any stretch, but when Aaron Judge was twenty four when he debuted, like his WRC plus was sixty two, So he was like nearly forty percent below league average as a hitter at twenty four, where Kalnick's twenty three and then Judge started to kind of figure it out at twenty five. Or Jose Ramirez is another example. His age twenty three season is when he figured it out. He really struggled before that. So like, again, I'm not saying Kalnick's going to turn into those guys, but I also do use those guys as points of you know, it's just a little early for everybody to be kind of writing them off already. 00:31:24 Speaker 5: Yeah, nope, I like all of those names. The challenge is once sees hundreds of the bats and hundreds of at bats and hundreds of at bats, right, and these opportunities come at some point you got to maximize them. At some point you're just not going to continue to get hundreds of at bats versus you know, making a move. And for an organization that I think has still some assets, it certainly has some money to spend to go out and do you know, I think what they want to do, and I think in a perfect world that would have been Brian Reynolds this offseason. But that perfect world and that perfect trade and that perfect value did not come anywhere near fruition, and that's your shelve it. And you move ahead and you kind of see kind of like a market, right, you kind of see what that market's going to be willing to bear here as we get into this twenty twenty three season. 00:32:12 Speaker 1: Last Jared question for me, Brock. But you guys got to sit down with him at spring training, sit at the table and really, you know, have these conversations with these players which you just don't get over the course of the regular season when you're talking to him on the phone. But down there at spring training, you're all sitting at the table and you guys really have good conversations with these guys. Jared's was He was good. I mean, he he sounded different, He sounded in a good place mentally. He changed his training philosophy in the offseason. I mean, what are those answers for what you guys are asking? And like really stood out when I think it was about a month ago when you guys talked to him. 00:32:49 Speaker 6: Yeah, thoughtful, right, just a thoughtful. 00:32:52 Speaker 5: Guy, not a not a bro right, maybe came up as a bro at his own brand. Smell you later, all that good stuff. And I think a couple of years in humbled a little bit. A couple of years in you got to figure out what is best for me, and and you know, from what I understand, there's a there's some demanding parental uh you know, aspects. I think dad's a grinder and and certainly you know, benefited him on the way up, but you know, there may be a time where that isn't healthy, healthiest for me, and I've got to kind of carve my own path and my own mindset. So yeah, you certainly felt thoughtful. The Navy Seal answer was probably the one that that resonates that if he wasn't playing baseball, he'd want to do kind of what Pat Tillman did and go and serve and and in this case, go and push your yourself to the to the anth degree and see just what you're humanly capable of doing. Watching him work out, that didn't surprise me, because he he loves to push and train, and the dude is the dude is certainly a physical specimen. So yeah, I think what resonated the most with him was just how thoughtful that every question was. You could see it wasn't just Okay, let me give you a let me just kind of give you standard here, let me give you what you expect. No, let me think about it and give you a, you know, fully thought out answer that comes with a couple of years at times some hard knocks. 00:34:10 Speaker 2: You know, anybody who's been listening to this interview so far, I'm sure knows you're a former quarterback and football is your background. But listening so far, it's easy to tell you do love baseball. So for you, where did that kind of start in your life? 00:34:23 Speaker 6: Yeah? 00:34:23 Speaker 5: I love baseball the most grown up you know. My dad was a football coach, was around football. I loved football. Football is easy. We're in the you know, practice field. I was a ball boy. That was everything. But I loved baseball and a chance to pitch. And I was a lefty and I probably would have continued to play baseball, But at twelve, I played on a fourteen you travel team, which I never should have done, so that kind of soured the experience. I hadn't started puberty. 00:34:49 Speaker 6: They all had. 00:34:50 Speaker 5: I went from the best player to the worst player, and I was like, I'm done with baseball. It just was not much fun for me. So sadly that kind of that kind of wet the whole old, the spark, the fuse, all of it. And then it was all football and basketball from there. So yeah, growing up, there was always a love watched all the Mariners games. Growing up, played with fotball relentlessly in the backyard with the older, younger brothers. You know, we built at a cardboard a green monster, and the fence in the backyard we chalked the line. 00:35:19 Speaker 6: So we were we were all in. 00:35:21 Speaker 5: We were football family, but we were all in on baseball and us. When this job happened, I had a lot to learn. There's no question when I started, I had no idea what any of this next level stats and analysis and understanding of just the difference between the grind of a baseball season and one sixty two versus the every Sunday of football or Saturday. But yeah, I've grown to love it, going to love the personalities. You know, Jerry and Scott with us are amazing. They're transparent, they're honest, they're fourthright. They you know, you may not always like what they do and the decisions they make, but they're pretty transparent and pretty clear. And so that was super, super refreshing. That was something this organization needed. And then you get surrounded and you get to be around as you guys said a picnic table watching Julio Rodriguez, why right, you get to talk to Logan Gilbert, guys that are are immensely talented players, but they're good guys. I mean, there just was not a bad dude in that clubhouse. And that too, was a little different than maybe when we started the No. Nine and some of those years. So I think all those fuel things that fueled my enjoyment of covering it, talking about it, and then the success they had last year. 00:36:30 Speaker 6: Holy smokes, was that fun for all of us to be a part of. 00:36:34 Speaker 1: Were you Pitcher? 00:36:36 Speaker 6: I was? 00:36:36 Speaker 5: I was a high lay kick, you know they called me a young Sandy Kofax back in the day. Yeah, in the North Hill Hillbillies, they felt the full brunt of my perfecto when I was twelve. That was the that was the mountaintop moment for me. But lefty with control, high lay kick, good little move to first and then yep. Unfortunately, as I said there, that one year, that one summer started praying for rainouts and that was never never a good thing. 00:37:03 Speaker 1: Unfortunately, was your Compton Randy Johnson. You're look, you're you're watching the big leagues and uh you're watching the Marritors too. It's like, okay, I can do this eventually, right, I just need to grow a few more inches and and all of a sudden like I'm in here. 00:37:19 Speaker 6: Yeah. 00:37:19 Speaker 5: You know what's funny is I was never like Randy was so tall. I was just a late bloomer, kind of a consistent grower. So it wasn't like I was six or five when I was nine, you know, throwing gas I was. I was a lot more probably Mark Langston, right, Mark Langston had that nice high leg kick and and pretty good control. And you know, Dad, being a football guy, wouldn't let me throw a curveball or anything else. 00:37:42 Speaker 6: So yep, it was fastball. 00:37:44 Speaker 5: Command and and as I said, man baseball at that age for me playing the Ording Eagle, Ording Eagles, the North Hill Hillbillies, we were the Pallop Knights, we were the Eagles, right, we just I think I played on an Elks team back in the day to right, all those fun clubs. So that was that was some fun, just grassroots, just pure joy. And now I've got a son that's thirteen, you know, starting to get into travel ball and trying to keep that same fun, right, that same just joy through the process. Is now the game is starting to get a little bit harder, a little bit more real as they start to get to this kind of puberty age, for sure. 00:38:27 Speaker 2: So you talked about when you took this job there was a lot to learn. Well nowadays on the show, you guys talked to Jerry Depoto every week, you talk to Scott's Service, you talk to Jeff Passon every week. I'd have to imagine that makes you a lot smarter about the game, right it does? 00:38:41 Speaker 6: You know? I think you know? 00:38:42 Speaker 5: And for you guys and for in Lyle, I think I've told you this in the past. Is for any kind of young and up and comer that wants to do this and in the media, I think the most important you. 00:38:54 Speaker 6: Know what is smart? 00:38:55 Speaker 5: How is how do you quantify Oh, he's a smart guy, he's he's well informed this or that. There's a lot you know. You know, you can read, you can study, you can watch, there's a lot of very smart people. I think one of the biggest keys is to be curious. Are you curious? 00:39:12 Speaker 6: You know? 00:39:13 Speaker 5: Because if you're curious, you're curious to learn, you're curious to think about things in different ways, see the game from different ways. Most curious people are content creators. You can have a lot of smart people in their content regurgitators, right, they can take it in and read it and then they could spit it out or put their own little spin on it. But if you're curious, you can create your own content. Which is really what I think the common thread between Sulk and I for fourteen years of doing this on and off of times, but it's what he and I both share is some of that just curious attribute. And when you have that as an analyst, whether it's for college football or NFL preseason games or you know, in baseball, that is I think that's been one of the biggest keys. And when that curiosity disappears and you get tired and you just start regurgitating, probably time for you to find something else to do. And after fourteen years, that curious factor is still as strong as ever for I think him and I and our show and for more and justin as they produce it and as we get a chance to, you know, to talk about it on a daily basis. 00:40:15 Speaker 1: Speaking of curiosity, Brocket curious of something Jeff Passen said, and a guy you know, I try and listen to a segment every week. He's incredibly smart and knows a lot about this game. But he said something that sticks out, and you know, Mariners fans will latch out to whether they do well or they do poor. This season, he said, they're legitimate World Series contenders? Are they? 00:40:37 Speaker 5: They are? They are contenders. I think they're one of the ten teams. It's got enough roster and not just the twenty six man, but into the forty man. And last year they played fifty nine guys. And the reality is, and we saw this with Robbie Ray and here's Dylan Morris, and there's down on the farm already, some injuries that you're gonna need more than twenty six. They didn't have that five years ago, didn't have that ten years ago. 00:41:02 Speaker 6: They do. 00:41:03 Speaker 5: Now, out of the thirty clubs, how many can stretch their rosters to forty to fifty? 00:41:09 Speaker 6: You know that? 00:41:10 Speaker 5: I think that is about ten, and most of those ten are the better teams and are the contenders now. They need their pitching to stay healthy, They need their pitching to continue to take steps forward. They need George Kirby to be what Jeff Passen thinks he can be, and that's a cy young contender, especially now with Robbie's injury. So they need things to happen, and we can talk about Kellnick and Taoscar and these other moves. They need a pleasant surprise. They need a Suarez and a Julio from last year, who were incredibly pleasant surprises that I don't think anybody saw the seasons from in totality that they both had coming. So they're gonna need some things to happen. But yeah, I don't think when that comes out of his mouth or Jerry Depoto's mouth, or Scott Servis's mouth or some of the player's mouse, I don't think that that is Yeah, I don't think that's fool or fool's errands. But I'll say one more thing. They've got to now live and play under that expectation. And that's different when you're backup quarterback, which is what I largely was in my life, and you get a chance to start. Let's go, man, right, let's go play. There's nothing to loose when you're Jolio Rodriguez in the first two months of the season are abysmal, and you get to turn it around. Man, you get to cut it loose. There's nothing to lose when you now have to play with expectations, and that's one thing this crew has not done particularly well the last few years. You know, play with expectations. It's a different world to live under, and that will be something certainly I will be keeping my eye on. 00:42:35 Speaker 2: I think there's no doubt that everybody's going to be keeping their eye on it, especially with how things went the first weekend. I mean, it's going to be a story to watch all year because the last couple of years they kind of played with just something to prove instead of, like you talked about, real, real, lofty expectations. 00:42:48 Speaker 3: So I think it'll be really really interesting to see. 00:42:50 Speaker 2: I know we've only got a few minutes left here with you, so I wanted to leave a few minutes for this because you're a football guy. We're having you on, and we thought, okay, we can't let you go without asking one football question here at least, So Anthony Richardson at five right. 00:43:05 Speaker 5: Not for me, not for you, No, not for me, not for the like if it was one year from now, and you had a chance to continue to bolster some of the most important pieces of NFL teams, which is your front and your line of scrimmage. Right, Like, if you had five and twenty this year, and you take care of what you have to in the second round, you build this team up, and then maybe next year you got a chance to do that. I mean, you're not going to have the fifth pick. I sure hope not, or disaster has fallen upon us in Seattle. I would feel more comfortable a year from now in just the team development and the team growth and the team arrow and trajectory than I do now. They just have still too many needs in their front. If you're going to compete with San Francisco, right, and I think the early win totals about eight and a half San frans eleven, Like that's a lot in the NFL. And if you're going to close that's that's like closing the gap. That's almost like a sixteen game gap between the Mariners and Astros. Right, there's some equivalency there that if you're going to close that and you know what they are at the line of scrimmage, Like I can't use the fifth pick on a luxury. I can't use it on somebody that's going to be largely a third stringer, may have a bit roll. They've guaranteed Drew Lock a million and a half. You know Gino's deal. This is going to be his team this year. So I can't take Anthony Richardson there. If they do, I'm not going to crush it. I'm gonna say that John and Pete have stones and onions bigger than mine. But I would like to see them address some big people, some difference makers, and if they want to take a risk, I don't know, on a de tackle out of Georgia at five, I'd feel better about that risk than I would a quarterback at that point. 00:44:46 Speaker 1: What's funny is that Anthony Richardson is such a good athlete that you could probably during his development year, stick him on the D line. 00:44:54 Speaker 5: And because he could play pass rusher, he could play strong side linebacker, he could play strong safety, he could play linebacker, he could play each tight end, he could play tight end, he could play probably receiver. Like he is that freakishly gifted six' four two forty, four run four four and jump forty. Inches there's just not been many humans at the, combine and none that have been quarterback that have been able to do those, things no question about. 00:45:19 Speaker 2: IT i, mean just, objectively you're probably right that going After Owell anderson Or Tyree wilson Or Jalen. CARTER i mean if you're if you think he's gonna fit With john And Pete sell with their, culture makes a lot more. SENSE i guess just WHEN i sit and Watch richardson's highlight, tape just off the wow, factor it's, like, yep the eyes pop they. 00:45:41 Speaker 6: Do, now don't watch low light? 00:45:42 Speaker 5: Tape, Right, like if you want to watch a highlight tape and you want to just live on that, island watch that one and be like, yeah because you put the low light tape on and you're, like, goodness, gracious can you hit the broadside of a? 00:45:53 Speaker 6: Barn? 00:45:54 Speaker 5: Like how are you that? Inaccurate? Right how do you throw to? That how do you make that? Interception how you complete? Forty because you know he's got the highest ceiling that highlight, tape you're, Right like if you just took ten of them and put them up against anybody in this, draft you'd be, like all, right let's watch it highlight. Tape but then if you put the ten low lights, on you'd be, like oh, BOY i don't, know we want to watch that, one Sou and that's what makes him in this, draft frankly so. Intriguing like this draft over the next four weeks and leading Into april and That thursday, Night unlike last year where What pickett was the ONLY qb in the first, round it was kind of a whole hum this thing with the with the four at the top And Jalen carter And Well anderson and just big Body. TACH i, mean it's just it is loaded with storylines, galore and trust, me we're gonna hear a lot about them and a lot of, rumors a lot of, innuendo and If pete And john are doing their, job they're going to be right there stirring all of it up over the next two to three weeks as. 00:46:53 Speaker 2: WELL i think it's gonna be a lot of, fun both the draft stuff and certainly all of The mariners stuff as the season goes. 00:47:01 Speaker 3: Along, Here, Well, brock this has been. 00:47:03 Speaker 2: Awesome we really appreciate you taking a half hour with us to talk Some, mariners even talk a little bit Of seahawks because we love picking people's brains about, it and we like to get a lot of different, opinions and we really appreciate you sharing. 00:47:14 Speaker 5: Yours, well you, two you keep crushing it and then you'll realize what happens when expectations. Rise it's going to get a little more. Difficult it's gonna get a little. Harder but you keep doing what you're. Doing keep being, curious, man keep loving these teams and digging into, it keep. Learning we can always keep. Learning and sure appreciate the opportunity to jump on with you boys. 00:47:34 Speaker 2: Today thanks so, Much, brock you got. It that was a great interview With Brock. Heward we definitely appreciate all the time he gave. Us All, RIGHT. Tj as the show rolls, on let's get to OUR mlb wrap around. 00:47:47 Speaker 3: Here so a little bit of an. 00:47:54 Speaker 2: Update on how the rule changes have affected baseball for the first weekend of. Games So Jeff passing tweeted this out here On, monday through the first four days of THE mlb. Season by the, numbers time of game between twenty twenty two and twenty twenty, three so he compared twenty twenty two average time of game three, hours nine minutes twenty twenty three two hours thirty eight minutes slash lines in twenty twenty, two the average slash line two thirty three oh eight three seventy four in twenty twenty three through the first weekend two forty five three twenty, three three ninety two stolen bases twenty nine of forty. Three, again this is all through the first weekend of twenty twenty two and twenty, three so twenty nine to forty three in the first weekend last, year seventy of eighty four in the first weekend this, year and then of course the pitch clock being put into play as. Well those are all the new rule changes in how by the numbers are affecting, baseball and what The english version of that is after reading all those numbers is the game's getting faster and there's more, hits there's more stolen, base there's more. ACTION i feel like that's all you can ask, for, Right. 00:49:04 Speaker 1: More action is. Important like take a look at those slash, lines, Lyle like what is actually increasing on those slash. Lines it's singles on those slash, lines, Right the slugging percentage really isn't going up by that much of a. Factor it's going up about as much as the batting average went, Up so slugging percentage went up eighteen, points batting average went up fifteen, Points so it's almost all singles an increase in that, line and that's what you, want right that it's a huge, jump it's just we could probably say a majority of it is those base hits through the right. Side and we saw, THAT i mean the first weekend And Jared kelnick's first hit of the season was a ground ball through the right side of the infield that would have been a shift, out and instead of being over three on opening, night he is one for three and we're thinking, like, YEAH i, mean with a good at, bat that's what we want for left handed hitters Like Jared kelnick And Cal rowley smashed the. DOUBLE i think it was yesterday here on a month as we still record this on A, monday So sunday's game that wouldn't have been a shift. Out but in that direction you get kind of kind of. Nervous things have, worked the action has, increased and while we were at the, scale we were at the game On, saturday and we'll go again, tonight but we're obviously recording this before the. Game did you notice the pitchclock at. 00:50:22 Speaker 2: All, no AND i never did in the minors last year. Either, again like it just flies by you kind of. Blank the game ends and you're, like, oh what a fast? Game DID i notice the pitch? Clock not, really but the game was just a better pace than it went. 00:50:37 Speaker 1: Quicker and this isn't even counting the fun aspect of. It if you paid attention To Mariners baseball over the, weekend you could see that Whenever James karenchak came into the, game he was getting counted down and heckled by forty Thousand mariners, fans which was. Fantastic could you imagine that in a high stakes game late in the season on A sunday night, basse that would just be. 00:51:01 Speaker 2: Awesome, oh it'd be, amazing especially in the. Postseason the world series of fans are doing. IT i, mean you see it happen in football when the defense gets or when the crowd gets loud for the, defense or in basketball toward the final. Possessions not that fans aren't loud in, baseball but when there's a real incentive the way a shot clock winds down in, Basketball like it's. Cool, again so many baseball purists out there are so all aboard of don't change the, game don't fix. Anything if other people don't like, it well then they can just deal with it or not. Watch, no the game needs to. Grow it does need to get, faster and it's been better through the first. Weekend Like i'll be, honest LIKE i didn't know HOW i felt about the changing of the. SHIFT i like it better now seeing. It, YEAH i like seeing more hits. 00:51:47 Speaker 1: Right and we think the, strategy, like, yes there's some strategy you taken out of the, game but you can still. SHIFT i MEAN i saw shifts On Joey gallo this weekend where you move the right fielder in into that gap in the outfield and then you shift your centerfield they're over to right center and your left field they're over to left center. Field and that's how you play. It so if you really want to, shift you still. Can it just limits what you can actually do on the, infield which is. Interesting and in terms of violations per, game it's like it's it's under one pitch clock violation per, game so one automatic, striker one automatic ball per, game and you know what's gonna happen with that Number over the course of the, season it's gonna go. Down you're you're not gonna notice. It you're not going to so the people who, complain like you're never gonna get everyone to agree on. Anything there's gonna be five ten percent of people who continue to bitch about these, rules which that's fine if they want to. Complain if you took these rules, away five to ten percent would bitch that the games are too long and and there's never any hits or never any. Action so like this is like this is the best of all, worlds, Right like what we can do with? This all? Right our next thing on OUR mlb wrap. Around, wow we made it one day into the, season one game before The angels got Their tungsten Arm O dooyle. MOMENT a little bit of background on. This there's this absolute banger of a tweet THAT i forget the guy who tweeted it, out but it just making a joke at The Angle angels That Shoho tani did something amazing that hasn't been done since like nineteen oh one By Tungsten, armodoy WHO i believe is a made up, player And Mike trout homers twice and The angels still lose by a score of by like six, runs which makes everyone laugh because that happens probably fifteen times a game in The angels, season where they have the two best players in the, world they do something absolutely incredible and the mediocrity of the angel still makes them lose by four runs to a mediocre. Team so that happened already On Opening day where Show hey was the twenty sixth player ever since nineteen oh one with ten strikeouts and no runs, allowed where he went six, innings two, hits ten, runs ten, strikeouts three walks To oakland and he's the first player ever to lose in that, game in a two to one loss to The oakland a which is incredible because The a's are gonna lose like one hundred and fifteen games this. Year credit to The angels for making history On Opening. Day. 00:54:08 Speaker 2: Listen they never fail to, amaze whether it be good or. Bad between Show hay absolutely, Dominating Mike trout continuing to etch himself as a first Ballot hall Of, famer probably a Unanimous hall Of, famer but also The angels continuing to have those two players and never do anything with. It they don't even finish above five. HUNDRED i, mean it's really. Unbelievable you said. IT i mean this Trout otani, stuff it happens ten to fifteen times a. Year like it's not like some one off that happens every other. Season, no it happens a lot through the course of their, years and it's just hilarious to, watch especially, because like you, said day, one it, Happens joey absolutely dominates and they lose to the team that's gonna be the worst in. Baseball like you think this is motivating him to stay long term In, ANAHEIM i don't think. 00:54:53 Speaker 1: So i'm trying to figure out low what actually is the most entertaining part of That angel's law on opening week if they did end up taking two of three from The a's over the, weekend which they probably should again Because oakland is not good at. All but, like what's funnier that opening day for The? Angels is it? That or is it the fact That Anthony rendon swung on a. Fan now here's a little bit of transcription from the end of the. Game Anthony rendon is walking back to the clubhouse there at the Odok Co coliseum and some fan probably said something to, him So he waves him over right to the railing and he grabs this dude's jersey and, SAYS i have the, transcription so if you don't like, swearing please skip ahead thirty. Seconds these are the words That Anthony rendon said to a random fan here on opening day in an opposing, ballpark as he has a fist full of his, jersey grabbing him down over the. Railing he, says, quote what did you? Say quote you called me a? Bitch quote yeah you, Did, yeah. Motherfucker and then as he, left let's go of his. Jersey he takes a swipe at him as he's pulling his head. Back if you want to see, it the clip is all Over. Twitter just Google Anthony. Rendon it will pop. Up not a very good look for The. Angels it's under. Investigation he probably end up getting. Suspended we haven't seen anything about it, Yet but, man why wouldn't show hey want to stay with a team with just a culture like? That? 00:56:25 Speaker 3: GOD i laughed so hard watching. 00:56:27 Speaker 2: THAT i, mean first game of the, year you're playing the worst team in, baseball you, Lose and the first Thing Anthony rendon does after having like three atrocious seasons In anaheim as he's ready to fight Some a's fan and a crowd of ten thousand. 00:56:40 Speaker 3: PEOPLE i, mean you just can't script. It it's. 00:56:43 Speaker 2: YEAH i, mean as we record here On, monday there hasn't been any word on if or what the suspension will. Be we assume he's gonna get suspended for. 00:56:51 Speaker 1: This. 00:56:51 Speaker 2: Listen i'm not some savant On Major League baseball's rule book page by. PAGE i can't tell YOU i can recite all of it for, you But i'm gonna assume somewhere in those, lines going into the crowd and trying to fight a fan doesn't exactly comply with their. 00:57:07 Speaker 1: Rules and it's not like this is like a mouse of The palace situation Where rendon gets an entire beer thrown on. HIM i mean a fancy stuff to you all the, time like from the, Stands and if you make the thirty eight million dollars That Anthony rendon makes this, season it's, like, like, dude like just bite your tongue and go walk back into the. CLUBHOUSE i know it's, irritating ever all the players are, human BUT i feel like if you get just if you just get called a, bitch like that's. IT i don't think that's warranted for you to go a Taxone AND i thought it was just so funny the comments underneath all those videos where the summarration of the comment, is are we really shocked That rendon swung a mist at? That it's, like, no, no. 00:57:52 Speaker 2: Like it would have been one, Thing Like i'm not saying it, ever anything is ever warranted for a player to go try to fight a. Fan it would have been one. Thing if it was around The All star. Break The angels were angeling like they always do when they were ten under five. Hundred they were disappointing like always. Show he felt like he was on his way out the door, already And rendon had kind of had. Enough it's game, one, Buddy like you got one hundred and sixty one more to, Play like you're so worried about the results of game? One and what some fan after one contest was, saying they're ready to go by him in the. 00:58:24 Speaker 1: Stands, well there's one thing we, Know. Wyle he's not playing one hundred and sixty one, games that's for. 00:58:29 Speaker 2: Sure well he's not because he's one going to face the, suspension and two he never stays on the, Field so, yeah he's probably not. Playing he's not playing one hundred and sixty one. Games but, Yeah Anthony, rendon. Unbelievable, okay let's keep rolling along. Here in our wrap around final, topic fantastic news on a more serious note for the non major league baseball players because for the first time, ever there's A Minor League BASEBALL, cba and there has been a significant increase in player's salary out the minor. Leagues level by. Level it goes like, this if you were in The Complex, league you were making eleven thousand dollars a year before THE. Cba now you're making just over twenty six thousand. Dollars it's the same thing In. Lowa they're going to go for making eleven thousand a year to just over twenty. Six hya is gonna go for making eleven thousand a year to just over twenty seven thousand a. Year DOUBLE a players will go for making just over thirteen thousand a season to thirty thousand a, season so a really nice. Jump and THEN triplea players will go from making seventeen and a half thousand dollars to a year to nearly thirty six thousand dollars a. Year, look DO i still think there's room to be made in terms of improvements with. This, yeah these professional, ballplayers which is what they, are should still be making more than. This but this is a very very much needed step in the right. 00:59:49 Speaker 1: Direction let's remember the signing bonuses factor in as. Well so the big reason for not paying minor leaguers in the first place was because a, right most owners don't own their minor league, teams so they're not necessarily making money OFF A, second these, players most of them get signing bonuses in the, draft but it's not always. Linear, Right if you're a twentieth round, pick which is the final round of the current format of The Major League Baseball, draft you're not getting that. Much you're not getting enough to really live for a, year especially after. Taxes so that's why this is so. Important AND i think some of the most important parts of this is that players will be paid almost year. ROUND i believe there's a six week dead period in the, winner but besides, that they will be paid year. Round it has medical, insurance it has pensions for. Players you're in the minor leagues long, enough you get some form of the. PENSION i don't have THE. Cba you, know all the exact details pulled up in front of. Me it was ratified, today by the, way On, monday thirty to nothing vote by the, owners which is just really really fantastic for. Them and this is on top of them now getting they already have, housing right that was APPROVED i think last. Year everyone gets, housing and if you're a LOW a or HIGH, a if you're like you, know one of the younger, players you also get transportation to them from the, ballpark which has always been a. Problem right you have ten guys in a two bedroom apartment just trying to make ends meet because they weren't making any. Money now that will not be an. 01:01:12 Speaker 2: Issue it is really nice because again minor league, baseball while it's already growing enough to begin, WITH i, mean the conditions used to be so much. Worse you used to hear all these stories about how these guys would get a two bedroom apartment for ten guys to share things like, that or how guys were legitimately eating Like ritz crackers or whatever they could find for cheap at the grocery store for their. Diets, well now that it made real improvements on the, food on the, housing on the, transportations and now on the, Salary, like it's nice to see that there are actual working conditions for these guys to thrive in their. Jobs this is their, job and it's nice to see they have real conditions for. It like WHEN i was calling games for The Dayton dragons last. Year maybe they weren't making all the money in the, world but, like for, example the conditions they had were really. Good like the facility is really. Good they had multiple meals a, Day they had snacks throughout the clubhouse whenever they needed. It they had. Transportation some of the older guys would drive the younger. Players you, know. 01:02:14 Speaker 3: It's much better than it used to, be which is nice to. 01:02:16 Speaker 1: See and there's a reason some organizations develop players. Better it can be as simple as good minor league. CONDITIONS i believe this is still the, case and this is not the case with every minor league, team BUT i do believe The dodgers that every affiliate have a food, truck like a chef food truck that follows around every, team so they always are eating what they should Be. Like it can be as simple as, that as just eating good, food and the good organizations really managed to hammer it. Out i'm glad this was finally. Approved it was approved the day before opening day On wednesday of last. Week it's really good that these guys are getting pay, bump and you, know again there's still room to be, had but guys are Making liverpool. Wages they can actually afford to eat during the season and in the off season as, well where they might not actually have to drive for uber they could just work out in the off. SEASON i think that'll work. OUT i got. 01:03:10 Speaker 2: TRANSITION i got one thing before, you, transition because you mentioned That dodgers food, Truck like it's a real thing. Again being back In dayton when The dragons played The Great Lakes, LUNs who were the high affiliate of The, dodgers that food truck made its way To. 01:03:23 Speaker 3: Dayton LIKE i met those. 01:03:24 Speaker 2: Chefs first, off they were super nice and they let me have some of the food because they always made a bunch and they had extra and, yeah it was like really really well done. Food like you could just see why The dodgers have all the success they. Do one of many, reasons of, course but like those players were getting fed really, well high quality, stuff like they didn't mess, Around like it was pretty cool to. 01:03:46 Speaker 3: See think of. 01:03:47 Speaker 1: How much better you play if opposed to you, know eating you, know a healthy like chicken and rice ditch dish opposed to like cheese and crackers that you get from the. Store just like just imagine. That, okay, well now we have a first for our in, season our in season. Segment we said this was going to be a, thing but we have our first Official Russell Wilson umpire of The. Week now you take it back and, say, okay why did we name it? That, lyle could you give us the breakdown of why we have decided to name Our umpire of the week for the Great number three In. 01:04:21 Speaker 2: Denver to win this prestigious award here on the, pod you have to meet one of three, requirements or you could do all of them if you, want but you've got to meet one of three to be eligible to win this. Award you either have to a miserably fail to see over the. Middle so if you're an, umpire if you're just missing strike calls left and right or ball, calls that would qualify number. Two if you refuse to let a play, develop so if you eject a player too, fast if you get into an argument with an opposing manager too, fast that would be refusing to let a play, develop or number three if you are just downright insufferable as an. Umpire now why do those three requirements all become relevant to this? Topic, Well Russell wilson's pretty prone to all three of those. Things so we, thought what better name for this segment as to seattle, people as to umpire, haters to combine it all and Our Russell wilson ump of The. Week, SO, tj are we ready to hand out our first award? 01:05:23 Speaker 1: HERE i like to congratuate Laz, diaz who was behind the plate on opening day for The. Yankees giant, scheme nothing too. Impactful i'm sure we'll get some better award winners this season because overall from some things that we've, Seen, lyle this isn't the worst performance we've ever, seen but it was notable on opening. Day he did make some rounds On twitter with some of his missed. CALLS i mean he had his first call Against Aaron. Judge the PITCHES i mean a clear three inches outside To Aaron judge and it's called a strike And judge you could just see it is like, that like that is not a strike and Then judge hits the next pitch over the centerfield wall for his first home run of the. Season, overall just ninety percent accuracy and maybe a worst. Party he was eighty eight percent consistent behind the. Plate if you take a look at This i'm Taking i'm looking at his his scorecard right, here it's it's not looking. Great So i'd like to Congratuate Las diaz on taking home the first Ever Russell Wilson umpire of The week. 01:06:25 Speaker 2: Award let's dive a little bit deeper on that, too because you mentioned his called ball. Accuracy it was ninety one. Percent THE mlb average for that is ninety seven, percent so he was six percent below the league average in, that which is not. Good and then in terms of his overall accuracy he was at or, consistency he was at eighty eight. PERCENT mlb average is ninety four. Percent, like that is not. Good i'm not saying it's the worst job we've ever. Seen that is not a good game behind the. Plane you might hear us start to get animated on this, segment because, again this is kind of a topic both of us are passassionate, About, LIKE i just don't get what these guys are looking at when they're calling. STRIKES i know this isn't a perfect, example but The New York times put out that umpire simulator thing for fans to try of watch these pitches go by and you judge of it's a ball or. STRIKE i know it's not, perfect and it goes way more in depth than, this BUT i got all of them, right, like, like it can't be that hard to just call balls and, strikes, Right like you're supposed to be the best at what you do and you don't do it like last. DAS i, mean this guy's in the news a, lot and not for good. REASONS i, mean like Cbe buckner And Angel hernandez are the two s tier, umpires, Right like they're the two everybody ripped on LAST ds isn't that far. Behind AND i wasn't shocked to see his name in the news on the first. 01:07:44 Speaker 1: Weekend and all you need to do to confirm if this was the right decision and lyle, DECISION i just searched his name In twitter search and then refreshed a couple of times just to see the just the general. Fan they'll show you the popular tweets first and then everyone else is after. That And i'm staring at a screenshot of four, tweets AND i can confirm based on the language they. Use, yes we decided that this was the right umpire to choose this. Week so congratulations To Las dias are Inaugural Russell wilson umpire of The. Week congratulations last. 01:08:19 Speaker 2: And there's gonna be more to, come believe. Us and there will probably be some stories that are a lot better than this one because you give a baseball season one hundred and sixty two. Games, oh you're going to see some umpire's surface On twitter and we're looking forward to. It so we'll wrap up that. Segment let's do our final segment, HERE. Tj let's close out the show with speak Your, Mind speak your. 01:08:39 Speaker 6: Mind. Spot that would be. 01:08:44 Speaker 3: Unwise what is necessary is never. 01:08:48 Speaker 2: Unwise, well baseball's. Back we've certainly been in person for a few. Games but what is on your mind over the past. 01:08:55 Speaker 1: WEEK i didn't Miss Mariner's, Twitter. Lyle that's that's what my takeaway is from this. WEEK i was thinking, About, man is there anything non baseball related that pissed me off this? Week, no but definitely Watching twitter During mariner's games pissed me off. AGAIN i, mean there are people who believe the season is over after the first four games of the. Season AND i think my new quote for this season to anybody who wants to overreact over one baseball, series please get a. Life thank. You that's. All that's ALL i have to. 01:09:28 Speaker 2: Say one of my favorite things THAT i see and my Favorite i'm being. Sarcastic not actually is all the, time whether somebody gets, hurt they lose a. GAME i, mean we saw it in the off. Season a bunch too people out there On Mariner's twitter would tweet that picture Of Jerry depoto with the big caption it's dip Over LIKE i know they're probably half, kidding but it's, like, guys they just played another playoff. Team, yes they lost three or. Four guess What cleveland is really? Good if this was. 01:09:58 Speaker 3: In, june you wouldn't. Care like. 01:10:02 Speaker 2: We're as big A mariner fans as, anybody and we get frustrated over the course of a. Season there's no doubt but to be mad after every single, Loss like how do you have the energy to go On twitter and yell about it all the? 01:10:15 Speaker 3: Time LIKE i don't, Know Marya's twitter is something else. 01:10:19 Speaker 1: It, is And twitter overall is something, Else i've Already i've already complained About ELON. A, Lott but this man thinks he's a messiah and is, like, yeah all the bots Are we're getting the bots off Of. Twitter, meanwhile if you've just probably noticed since he took over the bots, situation it's just so. BAD i probably got twenty five dms from bots this week trying to sell me crypto or invite me into a group chat or offer me a. JOB i, mean. Congratulations So twitter, Overall mariners and Non mariners related a shit. Show but are we, Surprised, no not. 01:10:51 Speaker 2: REALLY i mean this is What Mariner's twitter is so and it's What twitter in general. Is, yeah we're not. Surprised, okay what's. 01:10:59 Speaker 3: All my mind? For speak your? 01:11:00 Speaker 1: Mind this? 01:11:01 Speaker 2: Week, WELL i kind of had the realization it's not totally baseball, related but sort Of i've missed out on a lot of good ballpark food over the. Years so if you're not following our social media, accounts which you, should you'll have seen that we've done a food review and we're gonna do that a lot over the course of a. Season we want to try a lot of the foods around the. Ballpark maybe Around seattle in, general it's kind of a fun thing to. DO tj did one this past. Week i'll have one upcome in later this, week AND i did my. Review i'm gonna save what it was for when it actually comes, Out but it just made me, realize LIKE i always try to save all this money at the ballpark BECAUSE i don't want to spend it on. FOOD i don't want to pay the extra money because they obviously upcharged it at the. Park but there's some really good food that you miss out on when you don't live that. EXPERIENCE i, mean especially AT T Mobile, Park they've got some of the best food in. Baseball LIKE i, MEAN i feel like that's it's not a cold hard fact because it's by definition and, opinion but, man like you've got some real, options and the stuff we tried this, week or at least THAT i, had was really. Good so it kind of made me, Realize, yeah maybe more often than, NOT i need to live a little bit and get some food at the. 01:12:08 Speaker 1: Park and we're going to record a couple more, tonight so here we're recording On. Monday we are planning on Attending Mariner's angels tonight here On, monday the third Of, april so we'll record a couple more and we'll have those coming out later in the week as. Well but you're, right it is really it's really exciting to go try some of that, food and The mariners, HAVE i, think argue with the best food options in the majors in terms of like the. Diversity we talked a little bit With Jason churchill about that last, week which he thinks could be a negative because you want to be known for, something but also like there's so many things that you need to try with The. M'S i, mean you probably have to go to the ballpark fifteen times to really cover everything you'd want to. Try AND i don't know If i'm gonna make it to fifteen games this, year but if we, do you, know want to try something new every time and it pushes you out of your comfort. Zone SO i don't. KNOW i don't know What i'm getting, tonight but we'll sure find. 01:13:00 Speaker 2: Out WHAT i had for our first food, review it was not Something i'd usually. Get in, fact, yeah IF i had to pick between everything and the park probably wouldn't even be in my top five of THINGS i look. At but it seemed, unique seemed like it could be a cool. REVIEW i had, it AND i was, like, oh that's that's really. Good so just made me realize live a little bit at the. Ballpark if you go to a lot of games like we, do you don't have to spend money on food every, time but it is good to live a little. 01:13:26 Speaker 3: Bit SO i think that's been a nice. Experience And i'm GLAD i. Did, okay glad you. 01:13:31 Speaker 1: Did i'm glad you lived a little bit too loud BECAUSE i think that's WHAT i always tell you to do a little bit too. Much hey, dog, relax put a smile on your, face and he whitt what's? 01:13:42 Speaker 3: Wrong what's wrong with getting subway at The La Public? Market? 01:13:47 Speaker 1: Well a lot of. Things, Okay so that means we're getting An uncrustables review before the end of season from, you, right BECAUSE i think we need to be on. 01:13:55 Speaker 2: Brand OH i think we have to because they sell them at they sell them at the. Park, NOW i Think i'm gonna have. 01:13:59 Speaker 1: You, Right so sometime this year we will be getting an uncrossable. Review you could book that. 01:14:05 Speaker 3: DOWN i can't. Wait that's gonna be my highest score of the. Year bank it right. 01:14:09 Speaker 1: NOW i. 01:14:10 Speaker 2: Wouldn't, YEAH i wouldn't. EITHER i think that'll just about wrap up this edition of The Marine Layer. Podcast you guys know the. Drill if you want to listen to the full, podcast you can listen On, Apples, Spotify, amazon And. Google if you want to watch the full video, podcast it'll all be on YouTube and on social. Media if you want to follow, us you can do so On, Instagram, twitter, TikTok and YouTube shorts At Marine Layer. Pod FOR Tj, matthewson this Is Lyle. Goldstein as, always we thank you guys for tuning. In we'll talk to you next. 01:14:42 Speaker 1: Week