Episode 36: Bob Stelton (Seattle Sports), Luis Castillo Named To ASG Roster, And A Special Announcement

00:00:00 Speaker 1: Welcome to episode number thirty six of the Marine Layer Podcast with TJ. Matthewson and Lyle Goldstein. On today's pod, we welcome Bob Stelton of Seattle Sports. He's the host of Wyman and Bob. Great conversation with him talking to Mariners baseball in his career in Seattle sports media. We have our three Mariners storylines heading into the All Star break. We'll go down on the farm and take a look at our standout Mariners minor leaguer another Russell Wilson Umpire of the Week, and we close out the show with Speak Your Mind. 00:00:32 Speaker 2: And before we start the show, just a reminder to you guys. If you're watching on YouTube, go check us out on Apple and Spotify as well. Subscribe to us there, download the episodes, and certainly if you're listening, go watch on YouTube because we've got our full video form podcast on YouTube. Go hit subscribe, help us beat the algorithm. And as always, if you want to follow us on social media, you can do so on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube shorts at Marine Layer Pod. 00:00:59 Speaker 1: Let's get it rolling and we welcome you to this episode of the Marine Layer Podcast. Now Part of the Just Baseball podcast Network, recording here on Monday, July third. I like how that sounds, Lyle. 00:01:26 Speaker 2: I really like how it sounds. It's also really new. So if you've checked out our social media pages over the last few days, we've put it out there and we've posted that we've got a new home for this podcast, which we're really excited about, and we're now a part of the Just Baseball network, like TJ just said, and we're fired up about it, truly we are. I mean, so we had armand back earlier in the season. That was episode twenty five, if you want to go check it out. 00:01:51 Speaker 3: Arm Lighton. 00:01:52 Speaker 2: He's the co founder of Just Baseball. TJ and I interned with him on the Cape League a few summers back. And they've started this awesome baseball media company that is absolutely thriving. I mean, it's less than two years old and they're just doing wonders. They're doing a million different things. It's awesome. They have Walker Rueler on their main show every Monday. If that's not enough of a sell, I don't know what is. They've got a multi time all star on the main show every single week, and now they're starting to stretch out their podcast network two, which now includes us, which I think I can speak for both of us TJ and say we're really fired up about. 00:02:27 Speaker 1: Means a lot because we are the first team oriented podcast they have on If you go look at some of their podcasts they have, they have their main one, the Just Baseball Show, they have the Call Up Pod, which is centered around prospects, along with a couple of other podcasts. But in terms of teams specific, it's flattering to us that we're one of the first, and we're going to continue to bring that great content and Tho's great interviews in these great subjects that allow and I love diving into on a podcast network that we really believe in, and we both agree that we think they are. They're really going places in this. We're gonna be excited to meet up with them for All Star week They're all going to be out here for All Star Weekend. We'll get into that here in a second, but it's a really exciting opportunity. When Arm texted you and asked you if we would be in to do that, for both of us, it seemed like a pretty easy yes. Been in the works for a couple of weeks now, and it's really exciting now that this is an official opportunity. 00:03:21 Speaker 3: So a couple of things with that number one. 00:03:23 Speaker 2: Nothing we're doing changes outside of let's get into this here a little bit. Starting after this episode, we are going to start doing two shows a week, so we're going to format it like this. We're still going to have an interview every week, so our Wednesday shows, there will still be a show every Wednesday where we talk about two Mariner storylines and do an interview, and then the other show, which we're going to release on Fridays. So Wednesdays and Fridays are going to be the days of our two episodes per week, and this is during the season, by the way. On Fridays we'll do another two Mariner storylines and then include everything else. We'll do our on the Farm Russell Wilson, I'm the Week, MLB, wrap Around, voicemails, speak your mind, all that good stuff. So in the grand scheme of things, nothing's really changing except that we're going to put out more content for you guys. So that's number one, and above all that, I think just we're really excited to keep doing what we're doing, but do it at a place that we think is really really on the up and up. I tweeted it this week. I think Just Baseball is the fastest growing baseball media company out there, and we're excited to just be a small part of it. 00:04:30 Speaker 1: And again, should we get into the festivities that'll be coming up with Just Baseball coming up here for All Star Week? 00:04:38 Speaker 3: Yeah, let's do it. 00:04:39 Speaker 2: I mean, so, we've talked about for a while that we were going to meet up with these guys when they were out for All Star Week one way or another. I think we talked about it with ARM a while back when we had them on, said, Hey, are you guys going to be out in Seattle during All Star Week? So they are, and not only are they going to be here, but they're putting on an event too, which not only are we excited to go to, but we thought this would be a great op oportunity to talk about it with some of you guys, because so TJ and I have met some of you guys who follow the show around the ballpark, which we greatly greatly appreciate, and we've loved talking to you guys. We've loved meeting some people doing these fan interviews, but we kind of sat there to ourselves, right and we said, you know, we'd love to do some type of meetup with some of our listeners by now. We love to actually get to meet more people face to face, talk to them, talk mariners, just talk baseball, whatever they want to talk about. Here's going to be a chance to do that because Just Baseball is putting on an event on Sunday of All Star Week, so the day of the MLB Draft and night of the MLB Draft, and they're doing so just outside the ballpark. So it's at Gantry Public Option, which is right across the street from the ballpark. It's just outside the left field gate. It's sponsored by eBay, so it's a big trading card event while the MLB Draft is going on, so there's going to be a bunch of different things going on at this event. It's from twelve pm to seven pm, so it's really all day. You could stop by any time you want it, and TJ and I are certainly going to be there having a blast, and would like. 00:06:02 Speaker 1: To note if you need a little incentive, if baseball cards and meeting some really cool baseball personalities weren't enough, there is free food in an open bar. Is that incentive low since then of enough for me, sounds like a pretty good deal. So if you're around the ballpark and you're interested in the draft or you just want to you can want to come say hi. You know the just baseball guys and you want to go meet them and say hi to them as well, please please stop by. We're planning on being there. It's gonna be fun. I'm really excited that this event is gonna be going on, and I think it's gonna be a good way to really kick off All Star week. The the Futures Game is gonna be the night before, but the Draft is always a fun event, and it's gonna be an entertaining night for us with three Mariners first round picks going on on Sunday night, and then of course the derby the next day and the game of the day after that. It's it's gonna be a really good start to the weekend and we're really really looking forward to it. The weather's supposed to be fantastic, the environment down there. I'm really excited to see how the All Star VLLA is gonna be formatted around or Central Link. What year is it? Blumenfields and everything else around there. It's gonna it's gonna be fun. It's gonna be a festive atmosphere, and I think that'll be time where a lot of the national media is gonna be getting into Seattle as the first half wraps up from around baseball. 00:07:17 Speaker 3: It's gonna be cool, really cool. 00:07:19 Speaker 2: And there's gonna be some of things going on at this event too, along with the free food and drinks and just meeting some of the just baseball guys, meeting us talking with a bunch of cool baseball people. So there's gonna be giveaways at this event. There's gonna be box breaks for trading cards, and again there's gonna be the whole event itself, the whole trade event, and then again free food and drinks like that should be an incentive enough. And I really can't stress it enough. This comes from the bottom of my heart. We would really really love to meet a bunch of you guys that have been so gracious enough with your time to listen to us, follow our stuff. I mean, if you're gonna go, let us know. And so we're gonna post a bunch about it on social media this week anyway, But if you want details or just want to let us know that you're going. Feel free to feel free to let us know, because we'll certainly be there and we'd be happy to meet a bunch of you guys. So again, it's going on from twelve to seven pm, Gantry Public Option. It's right outside the ballpark, outside the left field gate, and it's coming up fast. I think we're pretty excited about it. The last thing I wanted to say here too, TJ, before we start to dive into some baseball a little bit, is I think you and I talked about with this podcast around the time we had started, in a few weeks after we'd gotten into it, just about what our long term goals were with the pod and everything. I think everybody who who kick starts their own podcast probably dreams of getting picked up by a company at some point one day, which we are very very fortunate to now have the opportunity to do. But I think you and I also talked about it always had to be the right fit. It wasn't going to be the first person that gives us the opportunity to join their network. We were just gonna go. We always said we wanted to be at a place that we really believe in what they're doing and the content they're pushing out there along with them truly investing in us, and I think that's what's happening here. I mean we've followed these Just Baseball guys forever, not just because we know them, because the content's awesome, and just sitting from Afart, it's been a blast to watch, and now'd be a part of it, it's that much more exciting. 00:09:14 Speaker 1: Again, if you want some more background, episode twenty five where we talked to Arham and we spend probably about twenty minutes to that interview, the latter half of that interview really talking about Just Baseball and what their vision is and what they're trying to bring to baseball fans. And I think we echo that a little bit of what we're trying to bring to the space, and we're really happy to be along for the ride. And it's going to be a great I think, really kick off to this for All Star Week, and I don't think it could be in a better place. 00:09:41 Speaker 2: Absolutely not so Again, if you need a selling point on Just Baseball again, they have Walker Bueler on every week. They are sponsored by bet MGM and a bunch of really other awesome sponsors and they've got over two hundred thousand followers on TikTok in less than two years. 00:09:55 Speaker 3: I would call that pretty good. 00:09:57 Speaker 1: And if you come to the event on Sunday, they'll feed you too. 00:10:01 Speaker 2: There you go exactly exactly, which again we can't wait, and we're really excited to kick start this partnership and get it started. Meanwhile, you were at the ballpark finally this past weekend. We both were, but you got to experience it for the first time. So give us, give us the takeaways. What'd you think? 00:10:20 Speaker 1: In case you couldn't tell. Yeah, like Lyles said, I'm back here in Seattle in a much more now echoy echoe former childhood bedroom of mine recording. But being back at the ballpark this week, while it was fantastic, got to meet friend of the pod, Brad Adam finally on Sunday. The only time I had seen Brad in person is when you and I went what was the first week of the season. It was like that it was Game five and we peered Brad Brad through the through the crowd of the pen and he's doing his pregame show with hyphen Again. We also got to meet which was super nice. I met him for the first time since it was Winter Meetings twenty nineteen, and he remembered that too. He's like, ah, yeah, it has been a while. We're all standing there in San Diego in the in the in the hotel. But it was it was honestly good, some good baseball this week. See it's funny that I drove up on Friday and Lyyle was subject to Friday's game by himself. Actually know you were with John, so not necessarily by yourself, but in terms of this podcast by yourself, but Saturday and Sunday, not only was the baseball quality, it was really good to finally get down there and do some content because a lot of these guys are you know, they're pros, but they are they have personality, and they're they're super nice. A lot of these guys took out some time to hang out with us and and shoot some content which will be coming to your social media feeds over the next couple of weeks. We have a lot. Lole and I were saying as we were leaving the ballpark yesterday on Sunday, Man, this is multiple weeks worth of quality content that we have, and it really. It helps also shake out those those nerves of going to talk to athletes for the for the first time. But it was good overall. It was it was really fun. I'm glad I finally got to spend a couple of days at the ballpark after seeing from Afar for most of the first half. 00:12:07 Speaker 2: Oh that first day, I was at the ballpark and it was just me. I was a nervous wreck. I mean because I was there on my own. There's no other like new school type media people there. There's no other podcasters or YouTubers there. Our friend Connor the couch GM wasn't there yet for those series that I was at for the first time. So I'm I'm just sitting there looking around. I basically don't want to move. I was like, I don't want to step on any toes. I don't want to do the wrong thing. But now it's gotten to the point where we think we're in a pretty good spot. So I certainly understand why you were a little on edge the first day or two. But ultimately, I mean, you interviewed Ty Adcock, you talk to Bryce Miller, you talk to Mike Ford. I mean, these guys were great. That's what's That's the thing about this Mariners team, right Obviously they're not living up to the expectations right now, but when you really kind of break it down, these guys are so easy to root for it and having the opportunity to just kind of talk to some of these guys that just makes it that much easier to root for all of them. I mean, it really is a good group of dudes. 00:13:05 Speaker 1: It is, And you couldn't tell by just talking to some of them that they've been losing and underperforming and that there could be some sour moots because we didn't we didn't get any of that from from the guys we saw this past weekend, and in the end, they played well enough where I'm sure they had a pretty happy flight down to San Francisco and one of their biggest series wins of the year. Also side note, always great to catch up with Ryan Davis, one of my favorite media people of all time. It's great Ryan, you know, we had him on the podcast. He's you know, he's awesome, but just getting to getting to actually see Ryan again in person is phenomenal. He is one hundred percent himself in everything he does, and he also also happens to be a damn good beat writer as well, so just had to make sure we included that in there. 00:13:51 Speaker 2: It just sparked a memory. You talked about talking a hyphen at the Winter Meetings. We talked to Hyphen right after we talked to Divish four years ago at the Winter Meetings, when he was complaining to us that God it this Winter Meeting was back in Vegas. 00:14:03 Speaker 1: He had some stories about that when he's like, yeah, everything closes here too early, and I remember there's also some we shared some complaints about the gas lamp. How you know, it's a little a little expensive down there next to the ballpark. Trying to trying to go buy some drink. He's like, man, this sports writer's salary doesn't always do it when it comes to going out in the gas lamp. But it's good for Divish. I mean, he was sitting right there at the table as we walked in for the first time. I'm like, oh, okay, now I feel slightly more comfortable now at least I know somebody here exactly. 00:14:32 Speaker 2: But ultimately it's a pretty cool thing we get to do. We certainly don't take it for granted, and we've had a blast doing it. 00:14:40 Speaker 1: Yeah, very thankful that the Mariners led us to goobers on the field to go do some stuff. And you know, I think we bring a lot, and I think the views of our social media content really reflect that it was good being out at the ballpark. Good doing some food reviews too, Lyles, So stay tuned, Stay tuned are social media channels. We've got two food reviews coming out. One that was kind of predictable, I would say, a fairly reasonable ballpark food that you would expect. The other one not so much, not not quite the cuisine you would think of. 00:15:11 Speaker 2: I would agree. Are we gonna leave it for people to see or are we gonna tell it right here? 00:15:16 Speaker 1: No, we're gonna leave it for people to see. You gotta wait for it. 00:15:19 Speaker 2: But that's a podcast teaser at its finest. 00:15:24 Speaker 1: It's just another reminder go to our social media channels. You won't miss anything. So if we tease it, then you'll actually get to see it. Okay, Low, Let's get to our three Mariner storylines. 00:15:37 Speaker 3: Up first. 00:15:38 Speaker 1: As I realized I have some bad math here, we actually have four Mariner storylines this week because there were some breaking news this morning. Trader Jerry is back at it again. Chris Flexen and Trevor gott have been sent to the New York Mets. 00:15:54 Speaker 3: How do you feel about this one? 00:15:58 Speaker 1: If I'm gonna be honest, actually, let me throw a question back to you. Okay, am I doing it in the vacuum of a vacuum of name removed from trade? Like am I taking the names away and just saying in a vacuum is the strategy of this trade? Good or bad? Or my concluding. 00:16:22 Speaker 3: You can include the names? 00:16:24 Speaker 1: Okay? In the end, I just shoulder shrug at this if you think about it this way. In terms, this was essentially a salary dump because the Mets have already defaid or planned to dfa Chris flex and once they acquire him. The agreement for this was the Mariners will get back a reliever that the Mets dfaid zach Let's trike and get this pronunciation, muckin'hearn? Does that sound right? Okay, it sounds pretty right. He's pretty good in Triple A this year eight eight e ra A and thirty and two third Triple A innings had some questionable strikeout and walk numbers down there, But we'll toss that out for the sake of this. So in a vacuum, this trade is the four million dollars on Chris Flexen's contract and Trevor got to the Mets for this lefty reliever. In the end, it's really a nothing burger. I think this ultimately boils down to how much you believe in Trevor got. I liked some of the stuff I saw from Trevor Gott in net on the season. He's been now worth negative wins above replacement. He's been pretty rocky since he's come off the injured list. All three of his appearances in June were all pretty crummy, So that us That leads me to not really caring all that much. If you were a believer in Trevor Gott, then this is probably a frustrating trade because you used a someone who you think is a big league reliever as a salary dump to the New York Mets. 00:17:58 Speaker 2: And some people on Twitter aren't happy about it. Shocker if people on Mariners Twitter aren't happy about it, But I'm with you, this is really not that big of a deal. So Trevor got as half a year left on his contract and then he's a free agent. The Mariners probably weren't going to bring it back at the end of the year anyway. Muck Andhearn barely has any big league service times, so he is controllable, and who knows what he could be. That's the thing we keep talking about this, right, We are both believers in what the Mariners do with their bullpen and most of the guys that they find equate to success. Muck Andhearn, for all we know, could be a really good bullpen arm. 00:18:34 Speaker 3: At some point. 00:18:35 Speaker 2: He could be a lefty version of Trevor Gott for all we know. I mean, I certainly don't think anybody thought people like Justin Topa or Taylor Sasato at the start of the year were going to be as good as they've been. Look at what they're doing. This is what the Mariners do with guys in the bullpen. So I don't think losing Trevor Gott at the end of the day is all that big of a deal, especially when you've got Matt be'st the who's dealing in triple A. You've got Perlander barrow A waiting in double A, Isaiah Campbell and Devin Sweeter down there dealing. There are options to replace God, so at the end of the day, Like I said, it's not the end of the world. God had a good cutter at times. He didn't give up a lot of hard contact. But I think the Mariners can replace him over. 00:19:15 Speaker 1: I'm not saying my expectations too high for Muckingheard. He finally made his debut in the big leagues this year at the age of twenty eight. He signed on a minor league deal with the Mets this offseason. I don't even know if this really reflects that much on Muckinghearn. This might just be they didn't feel like Trevor gott was worth four million dollars question mark about that much, four million dollars of value. There's nothing that Trevor got brought that you couldn't replace in the minors, like you just said. So in the end, again, it's just kind of a shoulder shrug for me. I don't think this really moves the needle one way or the other. 00:19:58 Speaker 2: So what I'm hearing from you is if the Mariner's called Matt Fast, the backup who's been really good in Triple A, he shouldn't be all that different from Trevor Gott. 00:20:05 Speaker 1: Right, probably not. You wouldn't think so again. Trevor Gott's been worth now negative wins above replacement this year. You would think fast if he threw more strikes than he did when he was up here the first stint in the big leagues this year, that it would be fine. It would essentially be a wash, right, a wash, A probably slightly above league average at his best right handed reliever. Yes, exactly. 00:20:34 Speaker 2: So if that's the case, then giving God up is not the end of the world, and infest that could improve. For all we know, he's looked really, really good down in Tacoma, not just the numbers but his stuff. So we don't know if that's going to be the move. That's just my guess for how good he's been. But if it is, let's see what he's got. 00:20:51 Speaker 1: Do you want a trivia question? 00:20:53 Speaker 3: Sure? 00:20:54 Speaker 1: How much money are the Mets spending on players not on their roster? 00:20:58 Speaker 3: H I saw this today. 00:21:00 Speaker 2: I don't know's I'm not going to have it off the top of my head, but between Bobby Benia, between Robbie Cano, between Flexen, between a few others, it's like. 00:21:11 Speaker 3: Fifty five million. 00:21:14 Speaker 1: You're pretty close forty nine point eight. It's quite a bit of money. That is not quite what year was that the Dodgers had one hundred million dollars allocated to players not on the roster. It was within the last decade that that happened with the Dodgers. But just kind of funny to think about with with Stevie Cohen saying that he's losing money on his team and still paying fifty million dollars to guys not currently on the Mets payroll, kind of surprising that they didn't think about keeping Flexen, which I thought was kind of interesting, But in the end, that's what they decided. And another note here on Muckinhearn before we move on. He was defa'd by the Mets yesterday and which is why this trade worked out a little bit better between the Mets and the Mariners because he was available and wasn't planned on continuing on the Mets roster anyways. 00:22:04 Speaker 2: He'll probably start in Triple A and then from there we'll see what he's got. We'll see what he does down in Tukama, Okay. Second storyline, the Mariners have their All Star It was announced yesterday Luis Castillo the Rock headed to his third All Star Game and he's gonna be the Mariner's representative. 00:22:22 Speaker 1: Was it a little ironic when they announced it yesterday? Were sitting there in the press box. It's the third inning, Louise had just given up a sixth spot and the Mariners were trailing six to one at this point. Well it wasn't a six spot, but he had given up his six runs at this point, and then it gets announced that he is the All Star, and you know, there were some eye rolls on Twitter. Louise did end up finishing to start yesterday, okay, and give the Mariners a chance to win that ballgame, But congrats to Luis. In a nutshell, the raw numbers are all star worthy. I think if you and I were to predict who the All Star would have been between those three pitchers and who is realistic combined with name recognition, was going to be Luis Castillo. And now he's going to get to represent the Mariners. Ton of disappointing there was no one else on there, but not totally surprising that he was the only one. 00:23:10 Speaker 2: We'll see what happens by our next episode too, because by then there could be some more guys that get added late. Maybe George Kirby has a chance, Maybe Paul Sewald has a chance. 00:23:21 Speaker 3: There could be other Mariners that get in by the end of the day. 00:23:23 Speaker 2: But just talking about Louise himself, I mean, he has been everything that they could have asked for him to be, from the time that they traded him to extending him. He is a true top of the rotation guy, elite stuff, overpowering presence, and he sets the tone for the rest of that rotation. He is every bit of an all star and the Mariners deserve to give him his flowers. Baseball deserves to give him his flowers because he's been not to use a play on the words here, although I'm gonna use a play on words here, he has been a rock for them, So give him his flowers. 00:23:56 Speaker 1: You had to think long and hard about that one, a little. 00:24:00 Speaker 3: Bit, a little bit. The rock has been a rock for the Mariners. 00:24:03 Speaker 2: But you know what, again, he has been a as close to a number one as they have had in a long time. 00:24:10 Speaker 1: And there's some other things here that you really love. With the waists, he's on pace for a career high in innings. Shockingly enough, low this kind of surprised me. I didn't realize this is the lowest walk rate of his career. Despite some shaky command, his last few starts pretty amazing to look at, which just really shows you how his command was before those starts as well. Overall, though, besides, despite the fact the expected numbers, which we look at a lot, are a little bit higher, I think you know, there's there's really no complaints for Luise. It's it's great for him and hopefully he won't be the only only Mariner there, because if that that ends up being the case, it ultimately is disappointing and kind of deflating for a city that was hosting for the first time in twenty plus years and expecting to see significantly more All Stars. They're not like the Braves who the Braves are going to be sending eight All Stars, much like the one Mariner did when it was here the last time. 00:25:03 Speaker 2: Or the Rangers who were sending six guys. Isn't that just great? 00:25:07 Speaker 1: Not only that, but if you've checking out our TikTok this week, you would have noticed that some of the content I put out about this, but the fact that on Tuesday night, when the All Star Game is rolling around, you're gonna have to look down on the field and look at the starters, and you're gonna count six American League West players starting the All Star Game. Not a single one of them is from the hometown team, not a single one. 00:25:38 Speaker 2: I mean, if you asked me at the start of the year, I was gonna say Julio was obviously a lock for the All Star Game. I would have said, I think Castillo's getting in. I would have said I think cal Riley's gonna get in. I would have thought guys like Kirby had a chance, like Muno's had a chance. I mean, a lot of guys seawalled, but one guy. Sometimes things shake out in ways that you don't expect. But for the team that's gonna host an All Star Game, yeah, it's a little deflating to only see one guy. 00:26:06 Speaker 1: Marcus Simeons can be out there too. Could could have been what could have been? Oh? 00:26:12 Speaker 3: Would that have been fun? 00:26:14 Speaker 1: Do you think is there gonna be a payroll Twitter cheering section somewhere in the All Star Game where they see Simeon and Seger lined up at second and short. 00:26:23 Speaker 2: Oh, they're they're all gonna dress up in Rangers jerseys. They're gonna all buy their own section of the bleachers out in center field for for the All Star Game. And and yeah they're they're just gonna be cheering them on all in their blue and gray Rangers jerseys. 00:26:37 Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, they're they're Rangers fans in. 00:26:40 Speaker 4: Disguise, Marcus Marcus Marks. 00:26:45 Speaker 3: Goods. Yes, it'll be exactly what. 00:26:48 Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, they'll be easy to spot. I think they'll make themselves really easy to uh, to stand out on Twitter if they're not there at the game. Though, again, all you need to do is open up Twitter if you can still read Twitter. But we can get to that later in the episode. We have We have a special something saved for the for the end of the podcast, so please stick around for that. 00:27:09 Speaker 5: This fall, stream your favorites and discover more with Disney Plus, Hulu and ESPN Plus together. Watch the highly anticipated new season of Loki and see the ghost materialize in Haunted Mansion on Disney Plus. Catch more frights with the Boogeyman, an American horror story Delegate on Hulu and on ESPN Plus. Get into the action with college football and NFL. All of these and more streaming now. Get the Disney Bundle with plans starting at nine to ninety nine a month. Plans with ESPN Plus starting at fourteen ninety nine a month. Terms apply. See Diisney Bundle dot com for details. 00:27:50 Speaker 1: Some other big news lowls, we get to our next storyline, Bryce Miller exiting Friday start with a blister, and he's now it's now uncertain if he's gonna make his next start. 00:28:02 Speaker 2: He was rolling in that start too, when you watch that Friday outing against the Rays. He was just carving that lineup up before that Randy Rose Arena home run which led to it was a Rose Raine or was it YONDI Diaz a hit it? 00:28:15 Speaker 3: Am I getting this wrong? 00:28:16 Speaker 2: I think it was Randy Okay, So the home run that Bryce Miller gave up on Friday, that's around the time where you could clearly see that that blister started to bother him because he was just dealing before that. After that home run, it wasn't that much further later until he got taken out of that game, and now we don't know if he's gonna make his next start or not. Obviously, he didn't seem like he was in immense pain, but blisters can kind of linger around. So you only hope that with some All Star rests coming up with the break he can get himself right. 00:28:47 Speaker 1: He was having some trouble gripping the baseball, and they were noting in on the radio broadcast. Just a side note, whenever Gary and Goldie do a radio game, you have to listen to it. It is it's funny, it's great, it's informative. Anyway, back to my side point, because they were doing Friday's game, they were noting how clear his drop in velocity was from the first three innings to that fourth inning with a blister really started bugging him, going from sitting around ninety five ninety six miles an hour all the way down to ninety two ninety one miles an hour, which was a little bit troubling for Bryce. And that's what I think he ended up giving up the home run on as t a Rose Arena. On was a ninety two mile an hour fastball that was a little bit more hittable than a similar looking pitch at ninety five miles an hour, which he had been blowing by batters all game. How about this stat though, for bryceon you said he was rolling. In case you didn't know this, he set a career high with nineteen whiffs in three and a third that's pretty absurd because the record for whiffs in a game this year aka a swing and a miss. Spencer Strider had thirty five. I think it was across at least seven innings earlier this year. That's the record. And if you want to draw some well, Bryce was on pace for this. Bryce was on pace to get near the whiff record on Friday night before the blister really just ruined his start. 00:30:11 Speaker 3: He had a chance to get to forty. 00:30:13 Speaker 1: Yeah, like if he continued. I guess the effectiveness because I think hear about this number and ask and say is this sustainable? So first of all, I threw eighty nine percent fastballs on that Friday start. He had a sixty seven percent with rate on his fastball. 00:30:32 Speaker 2: Yeah, that's probably not sustainable, especially against the race if he sees them three times through right. 00:30:38 Speaker 1: The Rays, who are one of the best offenses in baseball, and they showed it this weekend. They scored a ton of runs. Mariners are just I guess opportunistic in the final two days of this series. But back to Bryce, that's as good as his fastball has been all season. Now, maybe I do my my little hypothetical thinking here, was he maybe overdoing it a little bit and what led to the blister. Perhaps we're not sure, but in terms of timing, the blister was pretty bad, and I believe that blister ended up bursting there in the fourth inning, which is when he really stopped, couldn't grip that ball anymore. 00:31:17 Speaker 2: And we heard Scott Servis say they are a little bit concerned about it. 00:31:20 Speaker 3: Now. 00:31:20 Speaker 2: Blisters aren't season ending or anything like that. If I had to guess what's gonna happen, there may be a corresponding move before this podcast is actually released. If I had to guess what's gonna happen with Bryce, they will probably put him on the IL. That means he'll miss his next start. It'll be retroactive to Friday or Saturday, so they'll let him rest all through the All Star break, and then he'll probably if I had to guess again, just hypothetical here and a theory, he will be the last guy to start out of the break. He would go fifth when the rotation shakes up after the break, so that would only still have a miss one start, But they give him as much time as possible to rest that op so he's fully healthy. 00:32:02 Speaker 1: What's problematic about this is we're getting to the point of the season where the Mariners were gonna start to manage Brian Wu a little bit when it comes to his innings workload, and they were gonna as Brian starts tonight here on Monday, you might know a little bit more than we do currently as you listen to this episode on Wednesday, but they're gonna send him down a triple A and do a little bit of load management like they did with Kirby towards the All Star break last year, since Brian Wu has already passed his innings total from last season. But with Bryce out, it leaves a question of can you afford to do that? Do you have enough arms to be able to pull that off if you have one young guy on the temporary shelf and another one you're trying to rest a little bit. Darren mccackin is currently with the team on the taxi squad and he's expected to be the first elevated if they're gonna need a guy in the rotation and Bryce isn't gonna be available, But we'll have to see what else they try and do if they're also still planning on managing Brian Wu like they said they were going to before this blister came out. 00:33:03 Speaker 2: Is it confirmed he's going down to Triple A yet? I think they just talked about it, right. 00:33:09 Speaker 1: If they were going to manage his innings, I believe that's what would happen. Yeah, I don't. I don't know if they would just straight up just sit him on the big league roster. He has options, so there's no point of not using them. If you have that available, and you can do what Kirby did last year when Kirby went down, he only threw two innings. He essentially just threw his bullpen down into coma and results obviously don't really matter. Kirby got absolutely sheld in that start, but I don't think he was really worried about it because he's coming back up anyways. That that seems like the most realistic thing. I don't think they would just leave skip his start and leave him on the roster. That just doesn't especially for a seven game week coming up here before the break. 00:33:50 Speaker 6: I don't. 00:33:51 Speaker 1: I don't really know. If you could, you could pull something like that. 00:33:55 Speaker 3: That probably makes sense. 00:33:56 Speaker 2: Then maybe they'd call up Tommy Malone if they need a spot start at head of Bryce Miller. But point being this all circling back to Bryce, it shouldn't linger all that long. You never know with blisters, but you would have to imagine that he should only miss one start and then should be back after the All Star break and pretty much ready to go. 00:34:16 Speaker 1: Last thing here on this Bryce situation, I got it. I'm curious here are we seeing a tiny little window open for Emerson Hancock? Potentially? I think so because it's getting close after Malone and mkakn. I mean, who else is gonna throw? 00:34:36 Speaker 3: Oh, he's next. 00:34:38 Speaker 2: I mean, if you're not just looking for a guy for a spot for a spot start, it is Emerson Hancock. Guy just put up a sub to e RA for the month of June. He is starting to click down there in Arkansas. 00:34:47 Speaker 3: I mean, I'm not. 00:34:49 Speaker 2: Gonna sit here and say he is fully back to the Emerson Hancock that they thought they had when they drafted him. Obviously, he's still got some things he's working through, but it's getting better and better every time he's out there, and he's been healthy all year. I think there is a real chance you could see him up in the big leagues at some point. It's not a guarantee. I think it's possible. 00:35:09 Speaker 1: Finished off that June with six shutout innings against Springfield on Friday. The strikeout numbers aren't gaudy, but he's been very, very very effective. Then it's say, it's when, not if. At this point for Emerson, Hancock just just seems too realistic and not I guess not. Also not as much worry with innings with him, but we would have to see after once that situation gets closer. 00:35:33 Speaker 2: If you're a Mariners fan, put a pin in that, because it may be worth circling back to here in a few weeks. Okay, last storyline. Tom Murphy is surging. 00:35:45 Speaker 3: Yeah. 00:35:45 Speaker 1: Man, he's like the best hitter on the roster right now. And that's not even that's not even a hyperbole. I'm at the point low where I'm thinking, if they really want to boost this lineup, would it be worth calling up a third catcher and having Tom Murphy DH more often than not? 00:36:04 Speaker 2: Probably him and Mike Ford have been fine switching off at the DH spot. I mean, Mike Ford hits right, he's pretty well, and he's shown some pop at times. He had a pretty solid weekend. But yeah, Tom Murphy's hitting righty's and lefties. In the past, he's really been good against the south pause he's doing both this year and he's crushing the baseball. 00:36:24 Speaker 3: I don't know he's call up. 00:36:26 Speaker 2: I don't know if they'll call up a defensive catcher or not, but I think you're right, at least for the time being. While he's hot, he's your option at DH. 00:36:35 Speaker 1: His season WRC plus is now up to one forty six, and as Ryan Divis put it, this is the Tom Murphy that the Mirrors have been waiting for, that they saw a little bit of in twenty nineteen, that they've been waiting to slowly come back around. And Tom has really done it and in fact essentially gotten better at the plate because instead of just hitting lefties, as you said, it's been onced pretty well between lefties and right If we look at his splits versus lefties, he's got a one to fifty seven WRC plus versus right he's he's at one thirty five. That's some pretty good balance there in a bit of a smaller sample because he's only been getting more at bats recently, but I think that sample is gonna have to increase with some of the other guys in the lineup still not really picking it up, and Tom Murphy showing that you can't you can't leave me out any longer. 00:37:25 Speaker 2: He put up a two to twenty two WRC plus in the month of June, one hundred and twenty two percent above league average for the month. He was scorching the baseball in June. I mean, this is a guy that, back to your point about twenty nineteen, it's easy to forget he played seventy six games that year, so he didn't play a lot. He put up over three f WAR. When he's healthy, he can be a really valuable catcher like we saw back then, like we've seen in Spurts over the last couple of years. When he's on the field, like we're seeing right now, he has been awesome. And to have him and cal Raley as their tandem can't ask for much better than that. 00:38:07 Speaker 1: The biggest difference between this version of Tom Murphy and the twenty nineteen version of Tom Murphy. Tom Murphy was plus seven drs in twenty nineteen, which really helped his war. As you mentioned this year, he is slightly below average when it comes to defensive run saved behind the plate, He's currently sitting at negative one defensive run save, and I think the eye test would confirm that Tom Murphy is fine behind the plate at this point. Throwing, blocking, managing a picture, multiple pictures, etc. It is what it is at this point, which I why I think there could be inherent value of just letting him DH. And if you feel like there could be more value in calling up, say Brian O'Keefe to catch and you feel a little bit more confident in his abilities behind the plate, just let Tom Murphy DH because I think at this point you don't have any better options. 00:39:00 Speaker 2: The only thing here about Tom Murphy is what happens at the deadline with him, because he's a free agent at the end of the year, and we'll have to see where the Mariners are at by August first. If you trade him, there is probably some decent value you could get back for a team that's contending and looking for a catcher with some offense. The Mariners also may just want to keep him as well and keep that bat in the lineup. That is going to be one interesting case come to the trade deadline. 00:39:27 Speaker 1: I would get the value in keeping him in the lineup, but think of the potential return that this is not that much different than the Austin Nola situation in twenty twenty. You had a lot smaller of a sample for Austin Nola, who after only twenty seven games I think, was offered up at the trade deadline. And of course, any hitter can play extremely well for twenty seven games and then get flipped. It could happen, but that was a very unique situation. But Tom Murphy, if he continues to hit at this level, think of the potential return you can get back. Remember Nola, you sent a reliever in Austin Nola to the Padres to get four young guys back, and with pieces of your those guys being pieces of your core ty France Andres Munnos Tremmel, who has struggled hitting it wise at the big league level but still remains a valuable piece of your organization. That's the potential return right there. The question is for Jerry, are you gonna get blown away by an offer? 00:40:35 Speaker 3: That is the question. 00:40:35 Speaker 2: Also, you mean, I think you said reliever Austin Nola. Do you mean Austin Adams, because they send him in that trade with Austin Nola the catcher, and then Altavilla. 00:40:44 Speaker 1: Yeah, I was counting off the top of my head. I remembered Austin Nola and Dan Altavilla. But on top of that, you're right Austin Adams as well. So two relievers and a catcher to the padres for four guys back. 00:40:59 Speaker 2: Yeah, and two of them are legit core pieces of this team. Now where would they be without Type France and Andres Munez. So what type of return could they get for Tom Murphy? That could be interesting. It could feature some young, controllable big leaguers. But we may have to circle back to this around the time of August first or a little bit before. 00:41:17 Speaker 1: And what does Jerry keep saying about the kinds of trades he wants to make. He's not going to be trading for rentals. He's going to be trading for guys who he sees on this roster for a significant amount of time. And if the package were to be similar to what they got for Austin Nola back in twenty twenty, that goes right in line with Jerry's idea of thinking. So that's just something to look out for. He might be the Mariner's most valuable trade piece sans you know, we'll see where it's at. Paul seawalld potentially as well, but they still got some time to play before that deadline comes around and they really have to make a decision. 00:41:56 Speaker 2: It'll be an interesting one to kind of decipher through as time go on here, and a lot of it's just going to depend on what the Mariners do here in these next couple of weeks. Can they get themselves back into true wildcar contention or are they going to be willing to trade some relievers, trade somebody like Tom Murphy. That's gonna be the biggest question here as we get to the other side of the All Star break. 00:42:17 Speaker 1: We did talk a little bit about this with Bob Stelton, who, by the way you'll hear it at the beginning of the interview fun fact, is now officially the eldest L Dub Brad we've had on this podcast. So for how does that make you feel? Low? I believe he took the he took the record away from you. 00:42:35 Speaker 3: He did. 00:42:36 Speaker 2: He did take it away from me because he is if you include me, he would be the fourth L Dub person we've had on between Matt Scheffler Catcher in Double A who's a few months younger than I am, Andrew Rudia who does the train Kicks cleats, who's a couple of years younger than me, and now Bob Stelton, who is much older than the two of us are. 00:42:57 Speaker 1: Except you out of high school didn't join a band. Unfortunately, you look good in the band. 00:43:02 Speaker 2: Though when I I'd have to grow my hairway out, I don't know how great that was. 00:43:07 Speaker 1: You would. You'll hear it in the in the Bob Stelton interview. Something I didn't realize before doing some research on Bob that he took the very conventional path to sports radio by being a lead singer for a rock band here in the Seattle area and then went to go work at KJR. I mean, just a crystal clear pipeline. 00:43:29 Speaker 2: When we sat in all our Cronki classes in journalism school, that's what they told us. Go join a rock band and then go find a job in sports media. 00:43:36 Speaker 1: He tells some really good stories about it. It was good to learn about about Bob for a station that you and I listened to a ton. We interviewed Mike Lefko earlier, who works on Wyman and Bob as well, so This is officially two thirds of the Wyman and Bob show that we've now had on this podcast. But it's a fantastic conversation with Bob Stelton. We'll let you hear it. Now. Let's get to our conversation with Bob stelt All right, we're welcome on Bob Stelton. He's the host of Wyman and Bob on Seattle Sports. Bob, we appreciate you taking some time to join us here today. I just wanted to start this off with a fun fact. Did you know you were already the fourth Lake Washington graduate to appear on this podcast. 00:44:22 Speaker 6: No, I didn't know that. 00:44:23 Speaker 7: But happy to be part of the crew here and representing the Kangs, the worst mascot in the history of high school. So yeah, yeah, it's no good good to be a part of the group that's preceded me. 00:44:38 Speaker 3: Why they're purple, I couldn't tell you. 00:44:40 Speaker 2: Maybe be a little bit better if they were black or white or even blue, but purple like that can't exist anywhere else, right. 00:44:48 Speaker 7: Yeah, And it's just you know, there's nothing intimidating about a kangaroo. 00:44:51 Speaker 6: You know where the. 00:44:52 Speaker 7: Kings, the kangaroos are coming It's just was never the most imposing, intimidating mascot. And then yeah, you throw the purple and gold and you know, I don't know. I love my time there was great, but I always thought the mascot was a little goofy. 00:45:06 Speaker 1: What's the secondary color? 00:45:09 Speaker 6: It's yeah, it's a gold or ye? Or is it white now? I can't. 00:45:12 Speaker 7: I think it was purple and kind of a yellowish gold when I was there. 00:45:16 Speaker 6: Maybe it's changed since. 00:45:18 Speaker 3: I think now it's white. 00:45:20 Speaker 6: Is it white? Okay? 00:45:21 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, guys should have been Beavers. It was much better. 00:45:25 Speaker 7: Yeah, it could have been just about anything else. I mean I always ended Redmond because they were the Mustangs. 00:45:31 Speaker 6: I just sounded cooler and tougher. So but yeah, yeah, the Kangs. But l Dub's a great school. 00:45:37 Speaker 7: It's it's it's uh, you know, my parents still live out by there, so I still drive by there all the time. 00:45:42 Speaker 6: So very cool place. 00:45:44 Speaker 1: And you can occupy now the fourth spot on our original I would say Lake Washington Graduate Mount Rushmore of this podcast. 00:45:51 Speaker 6: Yeah, there we go. Perfect. 00:45:52 Speaker 2: And I'll tell you Bob, one of the people that's been on the podcast went Tel Dobby's a long time friend of mine. He's in Double A for the Maryor right now too, so if he ever gets up, you can use that plug on the show that he's just another king, all. 00:46:05 Speaker 6: Right, who'd you say that was? 00:46:06 Speaker 2: So his name's Matt Scheffler. He's a catcher. He's in Double A Arkansas right now. He went to Auburn, but he played his high school ball at like Washington, grew up here in Kirkland. 00:46:14 Speaker 7: All that, okay, And then we got our guy from The Walking Dead who's an l dub grad. I was always blank on his name. He's that three name, Harry, Harry Dean stant. 00:46:27 Speaker 3: Morgan is he is he an LDUB graduate, the. 00:46:30 Speaker 7: Guy that played Nagan. Yeah, he's from l dub. Oh yeah he was there before me, obviously before you. But yeah, he's an el dub grad. 00:46:38 Speaker 1: I was. 00:46:38 Speaker 6: I just found that out like a week ago. 00:46:40 Speaker 7: I'm like, uh, all right now I feel even better about it. 00:46:44 Speaker 3: Learned something new every day. 00:46:45 Speaker 2: Yeah, if we wanted to get into Mariners a little bit here, Bob. As we start to transition over, so we're recording this after what I would probably call the worst loss of the year, and it feels like we've said that a handful of times, but it's the All Star break approaches. TJ and I have sat here and talked about this a little bit. I think we felt like this season, at least before the year started, had a chance to be such a pivotal turning point for Seattle where all eyes would be on them, especially if they were playing well at the All Star break get a handful of guys in the game. Now it doesn't really feel like that's gonna happen. I mean, how are you taking it all well? 00:47:23 Speaker 7: As a Mariner fan, I'm pissed. I mean, this is you know, there was there was more anticipation for this season than any in recent memory. You know, they finally the Mariners finally got the fan base re engaged, and they got people reinvested and excited, and they were you know, there was almost a I'm not going to call it a mania, but there was a there was a groundswell of attention and interest in the team that hadn't been there. There was a lot of apathy, as any Mariner fan will tell you. I mean, twenty plus years of no postseason is going to do that. You're going to get a fan base that's just cynical. And you know, just oh yeah, same old Mariners and just going into a season sort of like whatever, I expect nothing. And then you get back to back ninety win seasons, you get to the playoffs. Finally, after two decades, you win a series against maybe the most potent team in the playoffs that year, in the Toronto Blue Jays on their home field, and you're going okay, and then you you know, it's tooth and nail, you know, down to eighteen innings with the Houston Astros who go on to win the World Series, and you can't help but think, all right, we had a few pieces and this is a team that's in the thick of it, and there's every reason to believe they should be contenders. 00:48:33 Speaker 6: They should be in the mix. They should be in the middle of the conversation, whether it's the division title or whether we're talking about, you know, one of the top two spots in the wildcard race, and it just hasn't worked out. I just feel like, you know, it's incredibly disappointing. I think there was people were excited for good reason. 00:48:52 Speaker 7: You know, they're the hardcore cynics, they are going to be I knew a typical Mariner. 00:48:56 Speaker 6: No you didn't, No, you didn't. Everybody was excited. 00:48:59 Speaker 7: They had a reason to be excited and and to anticipate the season, And right now it feels like a massive, blown opportunity. 00:49:06 Speaker 1: How does that change how you're gonna I would say, look forward to All Star weekend and everyone being here and the chance to market the team, which seemingly now will be dwindled. You know. 00:49:19 Speaker 7: It's it's a as far as like our conversations on the air and everything, it's it's we're sort of looking at not so much the the the All Star break as much as we are looking at the trade deadline, and it's about figuring out, all, right, who are you? Is this a team that's a bad or two away? And you still feel like, despite you know, the feelings we all have now coming off that loss where it feels like the low point of the season, this is still a team with a lot of baseball. There's more than half of a season in front of you. So the idea of pulling the plug seems a bit premature. I mean, there's a there's gonna be a lot that happens between now in August first, which is the trade deadline. So you're gonna you're gonna have, but your plans have to be in place prior to that. They're not gonna wake up on you know, the last day of July and go, well, I think we're sellers or I think we're buyers. I mean, these plans are going on now, you know. And that's the interesting part to me is we as fans and media can feel really bad about how things have gone and ah, this isn't the year and you know they should be sellers and what have you. But you know, Jerry and Justin and those guys behind the scenes could have a completely different feel about where this team is and how far away they are. 00:50:26 Speaker 6: So that that to me is the most intriguing thing. What do they think. 00:50:29 Speaker 7: They're not gonna tell us publicly, they're gonna, they're gonna, you know, paint the picture that hey, we're right there, there's a lot of baseball left, But what do they really think behind the scenes? Do they do they really think they've got a shot to compete or do they feel like, you know what, the chemistry is not there, or you know, we didn't account for all of the regression that we've seen in the lineup. It's to me, that's the most fascinating part of where we're at now. It's not fun. It's a Mariner fan to be in this spot. You want to be going, hey man, this team's rolling. All we need is another bat or a second or whatever that need is, and we'll pick it up at the trade deadline and then boom, we're off. We're not in that position now. We're in the weird position of are they buyers or sellers? 00:51:09 Speaker 1: If you're in Jerry's shoes, what exactly are you looking for? 00:51:13 Speaker 6: What do you think I think he needs at least two bats? I think at least two bats. 00:51:18 Speaker 7: I mean, you know, and again he's got to make the call as to whether they want to make that investment in You know, what I don't want to see is them go after a guy who's thirty six, thirty seven years old and we're going to ring the sponge dry and hope there's something left in him. My boy, this is what a great acquisition. Now, don't don't give me that you already did that in the off season. You got what you paid for with Aj Pollock and Tommy Lostella and Colton Wong, and you know it was a real you know, no pun intended, but swing and miss in the off season. 00:51:50 Speaker 6: I really, I gotta be honest. I hated the off season. I hated it. 00:51:54 Speaker 7: I love ta Oscar, I love that addition. He's it's been a very slow grind for him. The other acquisitions. I thought, man, you didn't go for it. You let this opportunity slip through your fingers where you could have gone for it and galvanized this fan base even more and own this city, and you didn't do it. You went bargain basement hunting, and you got exactly what you paid for. 00:52:15 Speaker 6: So if they're going to go for it at the trade deadline, if they. 00:52:17 Speaker 7: Make the the they come to the conclusion, all right, we're in this, then go for it. Don't don't give me the guy who's got a year left in his body and maybe you know, hey, he's going to be a veteran presence in this clubhouse where there is there is importance to that, and there is a value to that. But your problems aren't just that. Your problems are on the field. Give me somebody who's going to go out there and have an impact on the field. 00:52:40 Speaker 6: And give me somebody. 00:52:41 Speaker 7: If you're going to give up, you know, presumably some of your pitching prospects. Then give me somebody that's going to be part of this moving forward, not just this season, not just a random player. 00:52:50 Speaker 6: Give me a guy that's. 00:52:52 Speaker 7: You know, you got some control over for a few years, especially if you're going to be given up. 00:52:56 Speaker 6: You know, who knows who knows who they're going to be given up. 00:52:58 Speaker 7: I mean, people are talking about and Miller, and you know, if they're going to get into the top process you I've heard Harry Ford's name thrown out there, and I'm like, if you're even considering that, you better be getting somebody that's going to be in the peak of their professional playing career at this point and is a proven commodity. Because don't give me the guy that's got a year or two left that you're trying to just, you know, hopefully find lightning in a bottle for a really cheap price. 00:53:24 Speaker 6: I don't want to see that. 00:53:25 Speaker 1: Maybe a better way to frame my previous question of you being in Jerry's shoes not only for what you could you could acquire, but what this roster tells you about when are they going to tell like what would you look for if they're telling you to buy, or they're telling you not to buy, like an indication a run a series of wins, Like is there a point in July where you're saying, okay, if they're doing this at this point, that indicates that we can go forward and we can win some games. Or are you looking at something else now? 00:54:01 Speaker 7: I mean I think it's you're obviously looking at that. You're going to be measuring. All right, where are we at in the wild card standings? All right, we're four and I haven't looked today, but they've been hovering four and a half, four games back. But the problem, which sounds great, the problem is you've got six teams in front of you. So you've got to play better, obviously, and you need some of those teams to come back to you. You need them to play worse. So you're you're counting on help from other teams, and you're you're counting on all of this before August first to make your determination. So I think they need to figure out where they are standing wise, you know, probably at the All star break, all right, how far out are we? How many teams are in front of us? And what's going on in that clubhouse? Is this team buying in and that that's my biggest question is is what is the culture in there? Because you know, I go in there a lot. It seems like it's as good as it's ever been. Yeah, they're losing, but there's it's not It doesn't appear to me, and I'm talking completely as an outsider. It doesn't doesn't appear fractured, doesn't appear that. You know, there are people that you know on Twitter and what have you, Scott Service has lost the clubhouse and they don't buy into his message anymore. And I don't know if that's true or not. You know, there were some pretty telling comments from cal Rawley after the game last night where he said, you know, hey, we're just not a good team right now. And hey, the good vibes and all that are great, but we're not playing well and we need to figure it out, you know, And he talked about, you know, we had some three terrible at bats in this game. I mean, he's kind of calling everybody out, including himself, and I'm going to be interested to see how people respond to that. And I think that's what Jerry's got to read. If I'm Jerry, I'm reading that room. You got to read the room, all right, where is this team mentally? They are they fired? Are are they pissed? Is there a chip on their shoulder and they're like, Hey, we're not this team and we're going to come out here and make the most of the second half and put on a run. Or is this a team that's sort of rolling over and playing dead, which is how they appeared last night, Where it's just there seems to be a sense of urgency missing, and he's got to read that and figure out, all right, this team either mentally is in a place to go for it. If we bring in a bat or two, it's gonna be a complete one eighty or yeah, it's really not going to change the dynamic of what's going on there. And once he makes that determination, if I'm him, that's what I'm looking at. Yeah, obviously standings are big. Where ye at how many teams are in front of you? What's realistic? But more importantly, I think, on the heels of last night and hearing those comments from cal Rawley, I need to know how is that locker room still Are they engaged? Are they still buying into the message that they've been preaching? 00:56:31 Speaker 2: So how many of those guys do you think get into the All Star Game this year? Because you flash back to two thousand and one they had eight and obviously that's not happening this year. 00:56:38 Speaker 3: But how many guys do you think get in and who do you think it would be? 00:56:42 Speaker 7: I mean, you'll get the one mandatory, you'll get the one representative that every team gets. You don't have a guy on this roster as far as position players that's earned an All Star DoD. I mean, if you're being honest, who is it? I mean nobody, nobody as far as position plays, I think the most deserving player period is George Kirby. George Kirby has been miraculous. I mean, he's got fifteen starts on the season, twelve of them are quality starts. And even when he's off, when he's not George Kirby, so to speak, he's still going seven innings and giving you giving up two three runs and giving you a chance to win. So and he's got seven walks on the entire season. He's got fifteen starts in seven total walks. We saw Luis Castile walk ten combined, and back to back he had six in one game. So to me, if I'm looking at one guy on this roster that deserves to be there, it's, without question, George Kirby. 00:57:42 Speaker 6: And that's been the bright spot of this team. Is the rotation. 00:57:44 Speaker 7: Yeah, everybody's sort of taken turns with you know, throwing up a dud here and there, and that's what happens. That's true for every team. But this rotation, I mean they lead all of baseball in quality starts. They have forty quality starts. That's the best in baseball. They are buying. It's giving this team a chance to win night in, night out. That includes when Marco was here. He's a guy that takes a lot of grief. He's your fifth starter, and he's another guy. Yeah, he's had a couple of just awful starts. So is Kirby, so is Gilbert, so is Castillo, so is everybody in this rotation. But you look at his game log. He's given you a chance to win, and that's your fifth starter. So they are pitching rich. They're incredibly good throughout the bullpen. Even doesn't mean they're perfect. But you know, if there's a true All Star on this team, it's coming from somebody who's pitching for the team, and to me, that's George Kirby. 00:58:35 Speaker 2: The other two guys we've tried to make cases for along with Kirby, so we're with you there. We have made a case for Castillo, although his last few starts have been a little bit hit or miss. And then the big guy we've talked about is Paul Seawald, and it is really hard for relievers to make the All Star Game because there's so few of them. There's so many guys with a case every year. And we've also talked about the two Orioles. Guys are basically going to be locked with Canel and Batista. But how would you feel about that if we told you I think there's a case for Castille and Seawald. 00:59:02 Speaker 6: Castile would be a harder case than Seawall. To me, Steele's been good. 00:59:06 Speaker 7: He's I mean, he's his command hasn't been what you were hoping for. As we just talked about, he had, you know, back to back starts where he had ten walks. Uh, so he's even I'll give him credit though even you know, much like what I was talking about with Kirby, even on days where you go, okay, he doesn't have his a stuff he's still keeping you in the game. These guys are grinding it out and giving this team a chance to win. It's very rarely getting out of hand. It has, but very rarely so. But Seawald, you know, listen, like any other reliever, he's going to have this off night. He gave up a home round the other night. Yeah, it hurts, But by and large, I agree with you. I think he's been spectacular since he's been called up here. He does he have a chance of making it? I'd say probably not, you know, and you you laid out, you know, Bautista's been ridiculous for Baltimore, and I think there are other guys that are going to have a little more flash and a little bit more of a little bit more of a name I guess for what they're doing. But yeah, I mean I would be behind it. I don't think it's likely. Again, if I were going to pick one guy that was the most deserving to me, it's George Kirby. 01:00:11 Speaker 1: What about a guy that we at the beginning of the year thought there's no way he's not appearing in the All Star Game in Seattle. He's a superstar of your team, He's you know, it ended up. He is going to be in the Home Run Derby. He is planning on participating in the Home Run Derby, but Julio is not going to be an All Star, which is it's a disappointment across baseball. I think the Mariners really wanted him in the game. He's not going to be in the game barring just some miracle, but his play is not deserved being in the game. What like, what is it about this first half of this season for Julio that's really stuck out to you the most of why it's been so disappointing. 01:00:47 Speaker 7: I mean, it's just been his inconsistency at the plate. I mean, I feel like he's teased us, you know, throughout the season where you'll you'll get like a two or three game stretch where, hey, he's putting some hits together, he's going opposite field, he's showing a little. 01:01:00 Speaker 6: Pop lup in it. 01:01:01 Speaker 7: Okay, he's dialed in, he's got it all right, here we go, and then it doesn't happen. And then you'll get a four or five game stretch where his strike zone is huge and he's chasing soft stuff low and away and up and d He's can't keep up with it. It's just it's been a really odd year for him at the plate. Defensively, he's been spectacular. He's had a brilliant defensive year, but offensively, I don't know if it's you know, I want to cut him slack because he's twenty two years old. I mean, he just turned twenty two in December, you know, and he became the face of the team. He signs the Mega deal, he's on the cover of video games, he's on the cover of magazines, and it's just a whole different spotlight on him now. So maybe that's part of him trying to live up to that, trying to be the superstar. 01:01:45 Speaker 6: You know. 01:01:46 Speaker 7: I think, like everybody, I expected him to take the next step. He's regressed. I mean, he's just he's a guy that I think, you know, you can see him. It's not effort, it's not oh you know, we get people that text into the show and oh, he's just he's got a girlfriend now, And I'm like, you know what, there are a lot of guys in the Hall of Fame that had wives and girlfriends at the same time and they were able to focus on the game. So you know that seems a little lazy to me that, you know, all of a sudden, he's got a girlfriend and baseball is not important. I think it's a young guy trying to live up to the expectations. 01:02:17 Speaker 6: And he gets it. He's a very smart guy. He gets it. 01:02:20 Speaker 7: And you can see him pressing. You could see him trying too hard. You could see I mean he's swinging out of his shoes at every pitch. I mean, you know, for me, it's just a matter of him getting back to basics and just you know, get take what the pitcher's given you. Man, don't try to yank everything out of the park, don't try to hit everything five hundred feet. 01:02:38 Speaker 6: Just you go opposite field with a single good enough, good, You're on base. You're a threat. 01:02:43 Speaker 7: You're you're a stolen based threat. You are now a problem. He's just got to, I guess, understand the value of that as much as anything, because if you see, the biggest surprise to me this year is his chase rate, his way up again. The strike zone is huge. I mean, the breaking ball low and away. He just he's just been a sucker for it all year. And then they bring them high heat up and in and he can't keep up. He's behind, so he just seems like he's in between. He hasn't found his rhythm yet and hopefully that comes in the second half. But you know, the one thing I'll say for him that I would say for kell Nick last year that I was saying for kell Nick last year was that, you know, when Kelnick was up, Yeah, he was brutal at the plate, he was. 01:03:24 Speaker 6: Outstanding in the field. 01:03:25 Speaker 7: He didn't take it into the field with him, and for a young guy, I don't think you can over estimate how big of a deal that is, or I think that is a really big deal for a young player twenty two years old in Julio twenty three in Kelnick's case, and having the spotlight they have and struggling the way they have in different different you know, various rates between the two of them at the plate, but neither one of them have let it impact their defense. They have not taken it into the field with them. They're both outstanding defensive players in the outfield, and that's something I think is a sign of maturity, and it gives you a little bit of hope and optimism that, yeah, even if they're in the thick of a slump. They're going to find their way out of it. They've got the right approach mentally. 01:04:09 Speaker 1: Could this be a case with Julio of the Mariner's putting too much pressure on him either on the field or off the field. On the field to perform and that he needs to be the best player on this roster and off the field with the spotlight that he has on him. 01:04:23 Speaker 7: No, because I don't feel like the Mariners have put pressure on him. They're putting him in the lineup. They rewarded him. Here's the deal. You're our guy, We're building around you. We've committed to you for at least the next decade and potentially more. But I don't think there's a message that you've got to be Ken Griffy Junior. 01:04:42 Speaker 6: I think that comes from him. I think that comes from the fan base. 01:04:45 Speaker 7: I think that's the expectation that hey, we got another version of Junior, we got another version of a Rod a wonder Can, a guy who's a superstar and he's twenty one and just turned twenty two. So I just think that comes with the sort of reward words if you will, I think as much as you look at that contract and go guy's got generational money. He never has to worry again. There comes a lot of pressure with that, there's a lot of pressure to live up to that in his mind. I don't think the organization is putting it on him where Scott Service is putting any extra pressure on him. I think they look to him as the guy that he is, which is an exceptional talent. You're going to be in the middle of the order, whether it's one, two or three or four, where we're going to put you, and we do expect that you're going to live up to the building, that you're going to be a guy who does damage and goes out there and plays at a different level than other players. I don't think they're verbalizing, and I think that's just sort of what comes within a commitment like that, and he gets it, he understands it, And if there's any pressure being put on him, I think it's being put on him by him. I think you see it when he's up there at the plate. But to answer your question, I don't think the organization did him a disservice or is being unfair in terms of expectations with him on any level. 01:05:55 Speaker 2: So as we start to wrap up the baseball portion of this. I'll throw this back to you and Julio wins the derby. 01:06:03 Speaker 6: Hmm, that's a good question. I uh. 01:06:06 Speaker 7: I mean, he's certainly going to be comfortable. He's in his home park. Man, you know what I would, I'll say no. I'll just say no just because I don't it just god, I don't know he could do it though, I don't know. I say that, I don't say that with a lot of passion. I'm gonna say yes. I'm changing my mind. I'm gonna say yes. And I'm going to say this as well, that I think it actually could help him because you know, for anybody that's been watching every game, every moment, like like we all do, everything is on the ground. He is hitting everything on the ground. He is rarely getting the ball in the air recently. So I think maybe this could help. I think, you know, often we worry about, you know, our favorite hitters, our big time home run hitters, getting in the derby and oh man, this is going to screw up their swing and don't do it. You know, everything's just perfect right now, don't mess it up. He's not in that position right now. He's hitting everything on the ground. Everything is pulled to in between short and third, and he's rolling over on a lot of things. So maybe this, maybe this, you know, causes a change. He's lifting things, he's trying to get it out of the park, he's trying to get it in the air, and maybe this has a positive impact on him in the second half in terms of his approach at the plate. So I'll go with yes, he's gonna he's gonna do it. He's going to do it at home, in front of the home fans. He's going to come up in the big moment there. 01:07:23 Speaker 1: I don't think anyone else has been confirmed yet, has there. 01:07:26 Speaker 7: I've heard a couple of names, you know, I haven't looked at an official list, so I think you're right. I don't know who's actually confirmed. I've heard, you know, yeah, Showhy and Trout and Judge. Well, obviously Judge is hurt, so he's not going to be part of it. But you know, just different names they've thrown out there. Whether it's Schwarber I've heard and and people like that. But as far as a confirmed list, I think you're right. I don't know that I've seen that. 01:07:49 Speaker 2: So Mookie Betts basically said he's doing it. I guess he hasn't been officially named by MLB into it yet, but he should be a nather. And then yeah, and then Randy roserain of the Rays said if he was asked to do it, so that could be another. 01:08:01 Speaker 7: Okay, Yeah, I'd love to see Mookie out there. I mean, he's he's a brilliant player, and to see a guy he's not a big guy, he's not a guy you think of as a home run hitter, but you look at his numbers, he's a home run hitter. So I think that'd be interesting to see him out. I hope he's a part of it because he is a baseball fan. I love watching that guy play, and I think he's just, you know, that's a guy who you know, left Boston, came to LA under a huge spotlight, a massive deal, and is living up to it. I mean he's he's a brilliant player and has been. So Yeah, I hope, I hope he's part of it. Man, I love watching that guy play. 01:08:38 Speaker 1: Is there any one player looking forward to to watching this All Star weekend, whether it be in the derby or at the game show? 01:08:44 Speaker 7: Hey, o Tani, I've been. I've been just on this for years now, but even more so this year. I really don't think a lot of baseball fans realize what they're watching. We have never ever ever seen this in our lifetime. Anybody that's around today did not watch Babe Ruth play. You weren't around, And even Babe Ruth didn't do what is being done by show Heyo Tani. At the level that he's doing it, for the length of time that he's doing it, this is unlike anything we've ever witnessed. And if he does this for another four or five years, and that's a big if, if he can stay healthy and he's still a guy out there who's the top of the rotation, guy who's your two to three hitter, driving in the runs, hitting home runs the way that he is. If you can do that for another four seasons, you're talking about the greatest player to ever play baseball period. 01:09:39 Speaker 6: To me, that's yeah. 01:09:40 Speaker 7: Is he's going to be the greatest home run hitter with the number maybe not, but just overall greatest to ever do it. It's gonna be show Heyo Toni, and we are watching it right now, and I feel like people are kind of numb to it. 01:09:52 Speaker 6: I don't think you really there. 01:09:54 Speaker 7: Are a lot of people that truly realize how special he is and what he's doing right now, how rare, and how again we've never seen it so long winded answer to your question, show, Hey Otani, any chance I get to watch him play? 01:10:08 Speaker 6: I'm in. 01:10:10 Speaker 2: Honestly, that's the biggest reason in my opinion that Julia, that Julio being in the or not being in the All Star Game is such a letdown, because give come All Star Week. He could walk up to Otani, give him a nudge on the shoulder and say, hey, man, like you looking around you see how nice the stadium is, See how great all these fans are, And he could be like, there's no undertones to this, of course, I just thought I'd let you know and sit with those thoughts. 01:10:32 Speaker 3: And then he walks away. 01:10:34 Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, I don't know how much sway he's gonna have there. I mean, listen, I've I've got day dreams about Otani being. 01:10:40 Speaker 6: Here as well. And the Mariners, I will give him credit. 01:10:43 Speaker 7: By all accounts, they went all in and trying to get him here, and it looked pretty good for a while, but he ultimately settled on LA and from everything I hear, he loves it out there. But everybody thinks he's gonna end up on the Dodgers. Yeah, I don't. I don't know. You know, who knows. That's all speculation at this point. I would love it if Julio had that kind of sway, And I don't think anything is a secret about, you know, T Mobile Park or Seattle to Otani being in the division. He's out here often enough, so I'd love it if he was here. But I I for me, that's a that's kind of a pipe dream. I think he you know, I've been I've. 01:11:21 Speaker 6: Heard it from enough people that I feel like he ends up with the Dodgers. 01:11:27 Speaker 1: Bob, But wanted to ask you a little bit about your career because you have a fascinating way of getting into radio. I didn't know that in the nineties you were the lead singer of a rock band. I didn't realize that was a possible pipeline to getting into sports radio. I did. I went back and I watched an old video Jason Barrett on his website did his profile on you. I think it was nearly ten years ago now, but he had a video of you singing there, and I got to say, I was impressed. You fit right in. 01:11:57 Speaker 7: Yeah, it was yeah, it was sports Radio was not the dream I was. The goal was to be a rock start. I you know, I started playing drums in fifth grade and and then eventually started singing. And you know, we were in the thick of the whole grunge movement. We had the same management as Alison Chains and uh and then Queen's Reich and and all of that, and we were we were basically the one band that didn't get signed out of Seattle. 01:12:22 Speaker 6: So we you know, we were always on the edge. 01:12:25 Speaker 7: We always you know, we had labels fly out to see us, we showcase for labels, all that, and we you know, heard all the nonsense about you know, we we got this, this deals almost done. It was never done. It was it was typical music business stuff. But yeah, that's how I, uh that that was the dream. That's how I made my living. I was in an original band and a cover band. I was in an R and B cover band, and you know, we played weddings, we played corporate events, we'd play you know, you name it, we played it. 01:12:53 Speaker 1: Uh. 01:12:53 Speaker 7: And that's how I made my living before radio. And then I had some buddies in a band that were recording their album and they had a h they had a song. In the beginning of the song, they wanted the sound effect of somebody, you know, going old school with a radio dial, like flipping between the stations and then landing on the station. And then they had a script that they had written out and they said, hey, would you come in and read the script. You kind of have that DJ voice, would you read this. I'm like, yeah, yeah, I'll do it. So I came in and did it, and it got played a little bit locally. You know, it wasn't huge, but it got played a little bit, and one of the program directors asked them. 01:13:28 Speaker 6: Hey, who is that? Who did you guys have do that? 01:13:31 Speaker 7: And they give him my name and they and that program director got a hold of me to do some taglines on commercials like the like the legal disclaimer you hear at the end of a commercial, you know, a license of fee you apply offer expires eight twenty one, twenty three, blah blah blah. 01:13:46 Speaker 6: That they pay me like. 01:13:47 Speaker 7: Fifty bucks or something to come in and do some commercials like that, just the the legal tags and I got to know the program director and talking sports, and you know, I grew up as much as I was a musician, I grew up playing sports. 01:14:00 Speaker 6: I grew up boxing and playing baseball. You know. Started when I was four years old. 01:14:05 Speaker 7: So I was kind of like the long haired jock if you if you will, So anyway, started talking to him and he was like, wow, I didn't think you know about sports, you know because at the time I had long hair, ear rings, the whole thing. And you know, just kind of formed a relationship there. And then I started interning there as more of a kind of like, oh, this will be fun. You know, I'm doing my cover band and all that stuff, but this will be kind of interesting. And then I just got into it. I volunteered for every job in the building. I was working overnights, you know, running the board from midnight till seven am. 01:14:39 Speaker 6: My first paying. 01:14:40 Speaker 7: Job was running the board for the Tacoma Rainiers. You know, I just just kind of got into it, and at the same time, you know, realized the music. You know, it was fun, but you know, I had I had to make a living at some point because I got tired of being poor. So yeah, so I just made that that transition into sports radio, and yeah, I volunteered for everything in the building. Whatever it was. They didn't have somebody to do it. I did it and figured, all right, I didn't go to college for communications. I don't have a communications degree like a lot of people do. But I was like, all right, I'm gonna do it. I'm not gonna get out hustled. I'm gonna I'm going for it. And fast forward twenty five years later, here I am. 01:15:22 Speaker 1: What kind of stakes would need to be at play for that hair to come back. 01:15:27 Speaker 6: I don't know. 01:15:27 Speaker 7: I don't even know if I could get it that. I mean, it's still I still have it all. But boy, that's a lot of maintenance. Man, that's a lot of work, you know, especially if you see in the videos. I've got curly hair, so it's even I can't believe that was you. 01:15:42 Speaker 6: Yeah. 01:15:42 Speaker 7: Yeah, it was probably about fifty pounds lighter. I hadn't seen a gym at that point, but yeah, I was skinny as hell, and I think my hair weighed more than anything on my body at that point. 01:15:54 Speaker 6: But yeah, that was a lot of maintenance that goes into that hair. 01:15:57 Speaker 1: When John Clayton did his Sports Center commercial. Did he draw inspiration from you? 01:16:03 Speaker 7: Uh no, I never. I never hit it the way he did with his ponytail. His was always tucked in the back of his suit, and you know, he's John was John was losing it up top. I still got all mine here, So yeah, he I love that about John. That what I love about that is that people actually believe that he did. 01:16:22 Speaker 6: Have a ponytail. That I always thought that was a joke, and they saw the commercial and it's real. 01:16:26 Speaker 7: It's like, it's not real, it's not he doesn't he doesn't have a ponytail. 01:16:33 Speaker 2: Was it always your goal to end up back in Seattle, back in your hometown once you got into sports radio. 01:16:39 Speaker 6: Uh yeah, eventually it was. 01:16:42 Speaker 7: I mean I think initially I was just in it and like, all right, cool, I'm doing this, and I you know, I started out at kJ R. I started out on Mitch's show, you know, as an intern, and I got to be honest, at that point, I hadn't even really considered, you know, doing radio anywhere else. And then I got it and offer from a network and sporting news radio that was based in Chicago, but you know there it wasn't Chicago sports. They're on all over the country, you know, and that for me was surreal. They flew me out to audition and like they were a twenty four to seven network, and I auditioned at like three in the morning. They put me on like I did a solo show from like three to six or something like I can't even remember. And I did it two nights in a row or two mornings in a row. Never with the idea that I'm going to get this job. I'm like, you know, I'm just gonna take advantage of a trip to Chicago and have fun with this and say I did it. And then the odd part is I never even saw Chicago. I flew in in the middle of the night, went to the hotel, did the show at three in the morning, went back to the hotel, went to sleep, did the next show at three in the morning, and then left to the airport. So I never even really saw Chicago. But surprisingly they offered me the job. And at that point that's when it became real, like, Wow, I'm going I'm gonna uproot everything. 01:17:57 Speaker 6: I know. 01:17:58 Speaker 7: I'd never been anywhere but Washington of living anywhere, and everything I had was my cover band, everything was here. But yeah, I was like, well, if I'm going to do if I'm going to do this for real, I better pull the trigger on this. So I packed up everything and moved to Chicago, and you know, best decision I ever made. 01:18:17 Speaker 6: I mean it was you know. 01:18:18 Speaker 7: I lived out there for a little over five years, and then they relocated to Santa Monica. So I lived in Marina del Rey for a little over three years, and then they moved to Houston. I didn't want to go to Houston. They were offering me less money to move to this place. I didn't want to go, so we just parted ways. And then I ended up in Saint Louis, which isn't much better than Houston. 01:18:37 Speaker 6: But great station. 01:18:39 Speaker 7: And at that point, that's when I started thinking about, yeah, i'd love to you know, I want to be. 01:18:44 Speaker 6: Back in Seattle at some point. 01:18:45 Speaker 7: You know, I didn't know when it would happen, but that at that point after I after they moved to Houston and I was kind of hanging in California, I was like, all right, if it's not going to happen here, I would move to New York, I'd move back to Chicago, or. 01:18:59 Speaker 6: I want to come back home. 01:19:00 Speaker 7: And it worked out that I came back home in twoy eleven, and. 01:19:04 Speaker 1: What a welcome it was back he got to go back with and work with Groz. 01:19:09 Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, Yeah. 01:19:10 Speaker 7: The funny thing, you know, I'd known Groz, you know, obviously from my days at KJR and and you know, he's just such a character, and you know we had a great chemistry and we're you know, great friends. 01:19:23 Speaker 6: So it was you know, and I looked up to Graz. 01:19:25 Speaker 7: You know, he's a bigger than life character, you know for people that listen to sports radio. 01:19:30 Speaker 6: So it was it was cool. You know, I learned a lot from him. 01:19:33 Speaker 7: And to be able to come back home and do a show with, you know, somebody that I already knew, somebody that I had worked with and and had high regard for, was was very cool, very I mean, it couldn't ask for a better landing spot. 01:19:46 Speaker 2: As we start to wrap this up, I've always wanted to ask you this, what is the funniest interview you've done. 01:19:51 Speaker 3: While on seven ten? 01:19:54 Speaker 6: The funniest interview, Like, who was. 01:19:56 Speaker 2: The most out there character, who really gave who was like a live. 01:20:01 Speaker 1: Ah. 01:20:01 Speaker 6: Man, That's a good question, boy, that you know. I mean, we've funny. 01:20:10 Speaker 7: We've interviewed a lot of stand up comedians. You know, there's there's uh you know, I mean, I'm a I'm a stand up comedy geek. And we've got some guys that are that are good friends of mine that are regulars on the show, and Adam Ray and Craig Gass and you know, Bobby Lee's been in studio a few times, who just kills me. And over the years, I've you know, have had Jim Norton on and Doug Stanhope and so, I mean, those guys are obviously the funniest in terms of people that aren't that aren't professional comedians that you just you knew it was going to be entertaining. You know, John Moffatt when he was on the Seahawks, I don't know if you guys remember him, but he was he was kind of a loose cannon, you know, he was just kind of he was kind of one of those guys that had a great sense of humor, loved to have fun, didn't speaking cliches, really had some fun conversations with him on the air. Luke Wilson was that way as well with the Seahawks. Brennan Ryan when Brennan Ryan was with the Maritors. I'd known him a bit for my time in Saint Louis. He was with the Cardinals. He was another guy who was just a it was just a different personality man. He wouldn't there was no cliche. There was no hey, we're taking it one day at a time and you know, we're just gonna focus and no, no, no, when you talk to him, you didn't know what you're gonna get, you know. And that's what made it fun, is is they had a sense of humor and they could you could joke around with him and it could be light. And Richard Sherman when he first got here, he was that way. For the first couple of seasons Richard Sherman was here. I loved talking to him because he was he was light. He had fun, and he would laugh and you could joke with him. And it wasn't just about you know, tell me about this play, or tell me about. 01:21:44 Speaker 6: This team or what have you. 01:21:46 Speaker 3: It was just you had a. 01:21:47 Speaker 6: Fun conversation with him. And then that changed over time, obviously as his profile grew and you know, he changed a bit. 01:21:54 Speaker 7: But yeah, those are those are some of the guys that they'd immediately come to mind and then just not even on seven ten. Charles Barkley I've interviewed a number of times over the years, never on seven ten, but he's maybe one of my all time favorite interviews because he's like that, he can, he's got a sense of humor. He's not given me cliches. He is one thousand percent authentic. He's going to say what he thinks. You like it great, you don't, Oh well, And I respect that about him, and he's he's just I think he's self deprecating. He's a funny, entertaining guy. 01:22:26 Speaker 1: I think a sneaky one. Have you guys interviewed Nick Buloor? 01:22:30 Speaker 6: Oh yeah, yeah, he's a fanta. 01:22:31 Speaker 1: Yeah, he seems hilarious. 01:22:33 Speaker 6: Yes, he's that's a good call. We've had him on a number of times. 01:22:37 Speaker 7: And then talking about his you know, his show between two Blore's and another guy who's really self deprecating, makes fun of himself going bald and you know, I mean he's just you know, makes fun of his playing and how he's not very good all that. Yeah, he's he's a great personality. That's a good call. 01:22:56 Speaker 3: That this is no that was it? 01:23:00 Speaker 1: How was it well, I was gonna just wrap it up here, Bob. We've we've really enjoyed this. This was fantastic. We appreciate you taking some time to join us. A rare day day game for the Mariners, so makes you a little bit more available to us, and we really appreciate you take it some time to hop on with us. 01:23:18 Speaker 7: Yeah, man, it was fun. Any anytime you need anything, just just hit me up, happy to do it. 01:23:25 Speaker 2: Great conversation with Bob Stalton. All of our guests have just continued to be awesome, so we're really fortunate for that. In the meantime, TJ, let's head down on the farm. The Futures games coming up this weekend. The Mariners have two representatives in the contest, so we figured what better time than to highlight them here. 01:23:47 Speaker 1: I'll highlight Harry Ford. Of course, both these guys have been highlighted here before because they're both absolute studs. But Harry Lyle, as I'm sure you've seen, has gone all the way up the MLB pipeline rankings, in the top thirty and number twenty seven, right behind his old buddy Edwin Arroyo. But it's great that Harry's going to be representing the number one prospects in the Mariners organization. I think most the guy that most Mariner fans would say they're most excited to see in the future, and he's gonna have one of the catching spots of the futures game, which is really fun. And he's continued to tear it up and Everett his on base percentages still, as we always say, nearly four hundred, which is such a unique skill for someone so young. But he continues to really just bring all of the attributes that the Mariners saw on him when they drafted him out of high school in Georgia, and it's gonna be fun to watch him on a big league diamond. 01:24:44 Speaker 2: I can't wait to watch him. I can't wait to get to the game this weekend and see him at action. I've seen him once when we were down and evert doing some of those interviews. I got to see one game of Harry Ford, but I haven't gotten to watch a whole lot of them, and I can't imagine there's gonna be many better places to watch them then on one of the at stages, in front of all the other best prospects in the game and in our home ballpark, in the Mariner's home ballpark, in Harry's future park at that and. 01:25:08 Speaker 1: Good thing for Harry. He doesn't really have to travel anywhere either. He could just drive down I five. Must be very convenient for him compared to all the other prospects. 01:25:17 Speaker 2: I would agree if we had talked about Jonathan Class a couple of months ago, we would say it's an easy drive down I five for him too. 01:25:26 Speaker 3: It is not. 01:25:27 Speaker 2: He's going to travel from Arkansas. That's who I'm highlighting this week. Second representative in the game, Jonathan Class, who started the year in Everett, absolutely tore the cover off the baseball there eleven fifty four ops. Mariner said, you know what, we got to move him up. He's twenty one years old, but doesn't matter. We're moving him up to Double A. He's got forty five stolen bases on the year, he has sixteen bombs. He struggled a little bit with the bat in Double A. His WRC plus is at one oh one, so he's sitting right around league average, which is not uncommon for a guy so young. Making the biggest jump in all of minor league baseball from HIGA A to Double A to at times be a little bit off against those high powered arms, but it doesn't mean that he is in a place that he doesn't belong. He has had a ton of flashes there. You know, he's just continuing to figure it out, and you can see all the potential in the world with this guy. He's a little smaller like we've talked about, but he's got power, he's got speed. 01:26:26 Speaker 3: We know he can. 01:26:27 Speaker 2: I mean, obviously he can run the bases. And he's gonna be shining bright at T Mobile Park this weekend too. So I might be more excited to watch Class A than Harry Ford, especially because I haven't really gotten to see much of Class A in person. I hope he swipes a couple of bags. 01:26:42 Speaker 1: The only player in minor league baseball to hit at least fifteen home runs and steal at least forty bases this year. Is that good. 01:26:51 Speaker 2: It's pretty good. And I mean, listen, the guy has hit home runs in Arkansas. I know it's been up and down at times, which again I think is pretty normal for a guy that young to be in that league and have his hills and valleys. But he has shown some real power in that ballpark, which is not easy to do. 01:27:10 Speaker 1: And it's good that the Mariners are gonna have two guys in this game. I think it represents their farm system well. Last year, the Mariners only had one guy in the Futures Game. That was Emerson Hancock. The last time they had two in the Futures Game, I think I said All Star Game there. I meant Futures Game was Jared and Julio in twenty twenty one, and I think those two turned out okay. 01:27:32 Speaker 3: I would agree. 01:27:33 Speaker 2: I would say they've been just fine, especially now looking at them both this year. 01:27:37 Speaker 1: Absolutely, that'll be exciting. I am actually really looking forward to the Futures Game, Yes, to see the Mariners guys, but all these top prospects from around baseball are They're all studts. They are all very much stud worthy and have the talent to be playing in the Tuesday Game in the next couple of years as well. 01:27:58 Speaker 2: Anybody specific you're looking forward to seeing, even outside of the Mariners organization. 01:28:04 Speaker 1: I would would have sent Ellie, but yeah, too bad, he's already in the bigs. 01:28:10 Speaker 2: Yeah, Ellie might be in the actual events. We'll see what happens between now and next week. But there's a chance he could be in the home run derby. There's a chance he could be a late addition to the All Star Game. It's probably unlikely, but it's not totally out of the question. 01:28:25 Speaker 1: Otherwise, I don't think so. Ought to re look at the roster and I'll give you a concrete answer off the air. 01:28:31 Speaker 2: All right, all right, fair enough. I'm trying to think who I'd be really excited to see. I mean, most of those guys at the top of the list. I feel like Jackson Holiday will be interesting, right, and guys like that. 01:28:43 Speaker 1: This is why I wish we were credentialed. I want to go see Jackson Holiday face to face and see is that babyface? Is it like a sneaky baby face? If you've seen him right, number one pick of the Orioles last year, just destroying the ball up and down. You know, he's supposed to be a grown but if you look at him, say, man, the kid looks like he should still be in like a sophomore in high school. 01:29:09 Speaker 3: Yeah. 01:29:10 Speaker 2: I'll be excited to see James Wood too. I mean, we have a friend who's a Nationals fan who certainly follows James Wood pretty close. I know our friend Jeremy who works for Tacoma now is in Modesta. Last year got to see James Wood. I mean you hear nothing but rave reviews about him. So for a guy his size, with his power, I'd be interested to see him in person and we will. 01:29:31 Speaker 1: That'll be fun. Okay, Well, let's get to our Russell Wilson Umpire of the Week. 01:29:37 Speaker 3: Do you want me to bring this one in? 01:29:40 Speaker 2: You were the one who found it this week and you were like, yep, here's our guy, So I'll let you highlight it. 01:29:45 Speaker 1: Yeah. When in doubt Umpire Scorecards, you go on look on their website. Just throw it into Google. Look on their website. You can find the sneaky candidates for this Russell Wilson Umpire of the Week. Loll and I were sitting in the press box on Sunday, like, man, I don't think there's been a dumb ejection this week. All the ejections that we saw were huhm, standard person was asking for it, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Nothing nothing, nothing. I would say excessive, sorry is the right word for that. And then I see mister DJ Rayburn on the scorecards. Now you can go and click on every single game umped by an umpire this year and sort them in. You could sort them through lists of many different stats. Now, I went up there and I clicked overall accuracy boom, and there is From Friday, June thirtieth, DJ Rayburn had tied for the third worst accuracy score in a game this season. In Friday Nights Tigers Rockies game from coors Field. He was only accurate on eighty seven percent of the pitches he saw. In terms of called strike act receive, he was at seventy eight percent, which is ten percent below league average strike calls. Only Sorry, twelve of the fifty five called strikes were true balls in that game. That's that's a pretty lofty number right there for mister DJ Rayburn. And this is a classic example, Lyle of not being able to see over the middle. And you gotta back up a little bit, and all of a sudden you can only see pitches that are outside of the strikes and you're like, well, I have to call them strikes like mister Russell Wilson. And that's exactly what he did, violating rule number one of not being able to see over the middle. Congrats DJ Raber. 01:31:41 Speaker 2: Maybe we should give some context to the segment because we might have some new listeners now with the new partnership at just Baseball. So this segment, our Russell Wilson Umpire of the Week. We give it to an umpire who basically really fucked up at some point over the course of a week. And our three requirements are you either miserably fail to see over the middle, you do not let a play develop, or you are downright insufferable. And the segment is based off of former quarterback here in the Pacific Northwest. Three things that he all seemed to do while he was here and is probably still doing now. So that's the namesake behind the segment. DJ Rayburn wins it this week and it's pretty warranted. Where's the Challenge System when you need it? Still not in the big leagues yet. 01:32:25 Speaker 1: And Jeremy, when we were talking to him yesterday, our buddy down in Tacoma, continues to describe of how the Challenge system works and how the ABS is working down in Tacoma. There's no reason why it wouldn't work in the big leagues. I think everybody. I don't think anybody would complain. I don't think it would it would hurt the segment though lyle because we wouldn't get any It would lower the number of great ejections I think unfortunately. 01:32:55 Speaker 3: Yeah, that's true. 01:32:56 Speaker 2: Maybe what are we gonna have to retire this segment when the challenge system gets into place. 01:33:01 Speaker 1: Well, instead of us holding the umpires accountable, now we can replay everything that we would have bitched out otherwise. 01:33:09 Speaker 3: That's true, that's a fair point. 01:33:12 Speaker 2: It just may be a sad day in some ways when we get the challenge system, because even though they're gonna start getting everything right, we may have a segment that we have to retire and a segment that we think is really fun because we get to kind of highlight numpire every week. 01:33:27 Speaker 1: You know, I feel like there might be some guys who still earn their spots on this regardless of the challenge system. Bad umpiring continues day and night. 01:33:40 Speaker 3: That's probably fair. 01:33:42 Speaker 2: Okay, let's close out the show here and let's get to speak your mind. 01:33:47 Speaker 3: Speak your mind spot. That would be unwise. What is necessary is never unwise. 01:33:59 Speaker 2: I think we are in unison this week. We have got one thought. We cannot be alone in this regard, and we're gonna combine it together and just talk about it. 01:34:08 Speaker 3: TJ. 01:34:09 Speaker 2: We could not get enough of this conversation this weekend. We're sitting in the press box simply trying to do our work. We're trying to tweet out the game. We're trying to post things. It's a little tough, isn't it. 01:34:22 Speaker 1: I'm sorry, Lyla, I cannot compute that thought because my rate limit has exceeded, been. 01:34:27 Speaker 4: Exceeded, yes, and now mine has two. 01:34:34 Speaker 1: Thank you to the genius that is Elon Musk, owning a platform like Twitter, which relies upon as many eyes as possible reading tweets and advertisements, sitting there and deciding that he should limit the amount of tweets users can view. What a galaxy brain idea like? 01:34:57 Speaker 2: Who is it for this guy to decide how much time a single person is gonna spend scrolling on Twitter? 01:35:04 Speaker 3: Yeah? 01:35:04 Speaker 2: I understand he owns Twitter. Why are you deciding? Oh Joe and Colorado, who I don't know? Yeah, that guy doesn't need to be on Twitter, so now you're limited. Why there are people like us and people in sports media who need Twitter to actually function to do what we're trying to do. Could you imagine chams with a six hundred character or a six hundred tweet limit per day. 01:35:30 Speaker 1: Well, he does pay for Twitter Blue, which is really the stick of this whole thing, because it is event I think it is raised to right now where if you're unverified like Lyle and I, you can read one thousand tweets a day, and if you are verified through through Twitter Blue, you can read ten thousand tweets today. I'm still not spending eight dollars on your chrumby platform, Elon. That's not how this should work. This is all a ploy for Elon. He's he is trying to make Twitter profitable, which I think is pretty much impossible, but he's attempting it anyway. The background behind this his contract with Google ended, so they lost a ton of server space and didn't have enough room for millions and millions and millions of people to be on Twitter at the same time. So he's just trying to do everything possible to keep people off of Twitter. So he does this, And the funny thing about this Elon is he was making jokes. It's like, yeah, okay, so maybe you guys should just get off Twitter and go see your family. Well, this fucker, Elon tweets nearly five hundred times a day, Elon, I think you need to go see your family, dude, maybe you'd be less insufferable. 01:36:42 Speaker 2: Yeah, all these tweets or maybe this was the Burner account, I can't remember which it was. At the end of it would just say, oh, by the way, you just used another Twitter view today. 01:36:51 Speaker 3: Thanks dude. 01:36:52 Speaker 1: He does have a very funny parody account. 01:36:56 Speaker 3: He does. 01:36:56 Speaker 2: He does have funny I think I think there was the parody account that was saying, oh, you just another view. 01:37:02 Speaker 1: He did tweet something out though from his real account. Low, you're awake from a deep trance, step away from your phone to see your friends and family, like, thank you, Elon. Maybe I stud just the same to you. This is the dude who told us he's gonna put us on Mars. This galaxy brained individual said he's putting us on Mars. Well, he can't even fucking run a website. 01:37:27 Speaker 3: Tell me how you really feel, Teage. 01:37:30 Speaker 1: I mean, I'm serious. Ten years ago he did an interview on The Wall Street Journal and said in ten years I'll have a man on Mars. And instead of putting a man on Mars, this dude is limiting how many tweets you can read a day. Congratulations, Elon, I think you really flopped on this one. 01:37:51 Speaker 2: When's this fight with Mark Zuckerberg, like August or something. 01:37:54 Speaker 1: Didn't fall apart? 01:37:56 Speaker 3: Didn't didn't it? 01:37:57 Speaker 1: Get cold feet? I think I might have seen something and I got some cold feet. 01:38:03 Speaker 3: Sad. 01:38:04 Speaker 2: I'm yet this is not actually gonna happen. I mean, that's why I was laughing last week. I mean when it was actually announced, obviously it was hilarious. 01:38:11 Speaker 3: I was like, let's see, I'm actually. 01:38:13 Speaker 4: Get in the ring and then we'll see. 01:38:16 Speaker 1: Just need Mark Zuckerberg to kick his ass. Maybe that'll help Elon. He just sucks at owning this. He's he's just not very good at owning Twitter, and his self driving cars don't really have a hot reputation either nowadays. 01:38:32 Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know much about that. 01:38:33 Speaker 2: All I know is I'm getting really tired of seeing rate limit ex seated at the top of my Twitter feed. Because here's the problem. It's not like six hundred tweets that you actually click on, like click on an individual tweet. If you hit the home button and scroll to the top where it automatically does it for you, that counts. So if you hit the home button. You're basically done for the day, you know what. I'm also really sick of there's all these. 01:38:57 Speaker 1: Bots dming me. It's funny. When Twitter was not owned by Elon Musk, I wouldn't get spammed with bots ten times a day. But now you can't click on a thread without seeing numerous bots underneath. I cannot click my direct messages without someone trying to sell me bitcoin or scam me. And this man has said I'm the bringer of free speech and security on this platform. 01:39:23 Speaker 4: Okay, Elon, Well, hopefully this doesn't last. 01:39:30 Speaker 2: I don't feel like it's going to because I feel like there's gonna be too much pushback with this where eventually they're gonna have to put it back to normal. But for right now, it is not any fun where you're just simply trying to use Twitter and you can't. 01:39:42 Speaker 1: Hopefully he just sells it. Can that be my Christmas present? He just sells Twitter for a million dollars because he run it into the ground. 01:39:50 Speaker 3: Yeah, let's speak that into existence. How about that. 01:39:53 Speaker 1: I'm down. 01:39:55 Speaker 2: Well, we'll continue to do that in the meantime. I think that just about wraps up this edition of the Marine Layer podcast. Know the drill. You want to follow us on audio platforms, you can do so on Apple, Spotify, Google, and Amazon. We've got the full video podcast on YouTube. Go hit subscribe there. Go check out our episodes on YouTube. And if you want to follow us on social media, you can follow us on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube shorts at Marine Layer Pod. One more reminder, guys, this is our last one a week episode for the season. For the rest of the season, we're going to be doing two episodes a week. We'll probably go back to one a week when the off season starts. Wednesdays and Fridays two week episodes moving forward and again this Sunday night at Gantry Public Option down by the ballpark in Soto in Seattle, Just Baseball's holding a trading card event sponsored by eBay. Also going to be watching the MLB Draft at Gantry Public Option. TJ and I will be there. Please please please come hang out with us, come meet us. We would love to meet all of you guys. We would love to get as many people there as we possible we can so t J. Matthewson, this is Lyle Goldstein. As always, we thank you guys for tuning in. We'll talk to you next week.