Speaker 1: You're right for the Seattle Times. His name is Ryan
Speaker 1: Divish and he's back on FT run. Great to have
Speaker 1: you back on man Good to see you. What do
Speaker 1: you have for us? To me, this sounds like the
Speaker 1: classic case of a fan base that is losing their minds.
Speaker 1: And then I'm on the outside looking in being like, yeah,
Speaker 1: the Manners are fine. They'll eventually hit a ten game
Speaker 1: win streak and take the division, and they've got good pitching.
Speaker 2: But you tell me what you're seeing to.
Speaker 1: Try to not get like two connected to the every day.
Speaker 3: You're right, it's like.
Speaker 4: With every win, it's all this team's got all the
Speaker 4: potential to get to the World Series.
Speaker 3: And then with every loss, it's like blow it up DFA.
Speaker 4: Everyone my Twitter mentions turn into Lord of the Flies.
Speaker 4: They start blaming me for not asking you tough enough questions.
Speaker 4: I don't know, it's all. It's all kind of one deal.
Speaker 4: But I think that's like any fan base. You know,
Speaker 4: it's hard to see the ten thousand foot view or
Speaker 4: the macro because in the day to day you see
Speaker 4: the every day and you're just every game and trying
Speaker 4: to win every game. And that's I think, you know,
Speaker 4: the balance the front office has to look at the
Speaker 4: overall view, whereas like you know, Dan Wilson and then
Speaker 4: the coaching staff and then fans can look at the
Speaker 4: everyday view. But like the team is underachieved, I don't
Speaker 4: think anybody would sit there and say that it hasn't
Speaker 4: given what they have, given the amount of talent on
Speaker 4: the roster, give them the expectations. You know, they're they're
Speaker 4: right around five hundred, which when you're right around five hundred,
Speaker 4: makes you really good in the American League and really
Speaker 4: good in the American League West. But I have yet
Speaker 4: to see a stretch of maybe well the fifteen games
Speaker 4: where I thought they played quality, consistent baseball. I just
Speaker 4: haven't seen it for any number of reasons, whether it's
Speaker 4: poor performance or injuries.
Speaker 5: I'm gonna tell you. I mean, I agree with Scott.
Speaker 5: I think this team is good enough to make the playoffs,
Speaker 5: blah blah blah. But as a fan, can you blame
Speaker 5: the fans they watched them in the playoffs last year.
Speaker 5: Are they seeing the exact same team offensively? Because we
Speaker 5: know what they can do pitching? But I think the
Speaker 5: exact same team offensively, and that's what fans are Leary
Speaker 5: of like, oh, we're just gonna waste our money on
Speaker 5: some playoff tickets that won't end in a World Series.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I could, Like I usually don't tell
Speaker 4: fans how to be fans because I'm not really won
Speaker 4: anymore other than it's University of Montana football. But like, yeah,
Speaker 4: I mean, like the difference with this team right now
Speaker 4: is the catcher isn't on pace. They hit sixty home
Speaker 4: runs like he was last year, you know, eighty one games.
Speaker 4: In the last year, Cal Realy had like thirty four homers,
Speaker 4: and like that's the difference. You know, he's he's he
Speaker 4: started off slow, then he got hurt. You know, he's
Speaker 4: working his way back, and Brendan Donovan's playing in like
Speaker 4: twenty five games. I mean, like, the offense isn't good,
Speaker 4: and there are a lot of different reasons for it,
Speaker 4: but really it's you know, and it's not like some
Speaker 4: people blame Rob Ruthsninder on the roster.
Speaker 3: No, it's it's their best players haven't.
Speaker 4: Been consistently producing as good as Julio was in the
Speaker 4: month of May hitting ten homers.
Speaker 3: You know, you look at his overall numbers, where he's at.
Speaker 4: Eighty some games into the season, he's pretty much on
Speaker 4: track with where he's been the last few years, which
Speaker 4: means he'll probably get hot here in another week or
Speaker 4: so and then put up really big numbers. But yeah,
Speaker 4: it's fans have every right to be upset because they
Speaker 4: just they haven't performed well.
Speaker 3: It's an execution issue as much.
Speaker 5: As it is.
Speaker 3: Personnel or anything like.
Speaker 4: There's been some injuries and such, but it's just execution,
Speaker 4: even like with the pitching staff, as good as the
Speaker 4: pitching staff has been, and it's been outstanding, Like, you
Speaker 4: don't look at the pitching staff right now say, oh,
Speaker 4: there's a genuine All Star candidate. I mean, Logan Gilbert's
Speaker 4: had some rough stretches, George Kirby's had some rough stretches,
Speaker 4: Brian lou has struggled on the road. Then you have
Speaker 4: Bryce Miller and Louis Castillo doing a little bit of
Speaker 4: that piggyback thing. And you throw on Emerson Hancock, who
Speaker 4: has been probably their best, their most consistent guy, but
Speaker 4: even he's had a couple of hiccups. So I think there,
Speaker 4: I think they're still really solid, and like if you
Speaker 4: look at a team that's with the talent that they have,
Speaker 4: you know, and they will get Brendan Naunovan back at
Speaker 4: some point, and you look at the rest of the
Speaker 4: league you think, Okay, yeah, they have yet to play
Speaker 4: consistent baseball, and at some point the law of averages
Speaker 4: says they will play consistent baseball. So you still like
Speaker 4: their chances because they haven't played their way out of it.
Speaker 4: Like as poorly as they have played, they've hovered right
Speaker 4: around five hundred, and they've been able to just kind
Speaker 4: of stay right there. And being in a bad league
Speaker 4: and a bad division helps. But you know, you can
Speaker 4: only play what the schedule says. And really, if you
Speaker 4: get into the postseason.
Speaker 3: And win the division, that's really the ultimate goal to
Speaker 3: start with.
Speaker 4: And then because you can't, you can't win the World
Speaker 4: Series without getting the posseason. So I think they're still
Speaker 4: in line to win the division, which sets them up
Speaker 4: for everything.
Speaker 5: All right, Ryan, you got to put on your coaching hat, okay,
Speaker 5: because you said Cal's regression. I said before the year,
Speaker 5: Cal is going to regress by a lot of home runs.
Speaker 5: He could still hit forty before the year, because you
Speaker 5: just don't hit sixty home runs as a catcher, like
Speaker 5: it's that would be regression of twenty home runs. But
Speaker 5: what have you seen from Cal besides the stretch where
Speaker 5: he's clearly playing through an injury. Is something in his execution,
Speaker 5: his approach. Is it something that maybe he's still dealing
Speaker 5: with to have this few good at bats. I mean
Speaker 5: everything offensively is down for Cal.
Speaker 4: Extremely Yeah, it's I look at it kind of was waves.
Speaker 4: I think he came back from the BBC and he
Speaker 4: wasn't comfortable and he didn't play. He had nine tole
Speaker 4: at bats in the WBC, And you guys have talked
Speaker 4: about this.
Speaker 3: I've talked about it, but like.
Speaker 4: They, you know, part of the WBC isn't just the games,
Speaker 4: it's the daily work.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 4: Cal's the guy that we get to the Green Spring
Speaker 4: Tree and gets to the clubhouse at like five in
Speaker 4: the morning for thirty five in the morning, does all
Speaker 4: his work, you know, lifts, gets all his extra stuff in,
Speaker 4: you know, then does game or does minor league games,
Speaker 4: gets as a bats. So he's putting in a twelve
Speaker 4: hour day at the field. When you're at the WBC,
Speaker 4: you don't have a field. You share the stadium with
Speaker 4: the other team, so you're getting like two hours of
Speaker 4: work in maybe, and I think that was that was
Speaker 4: what he didn't like.
Speaker 3: And I think part of it was he.
Speaker 4: Got back and he got back from the WBC, and
Speaker 4: he was like me in college or kidness at Arizona State,
Speaker 4: right before finals is coming up, You're trying to learn
Speaker 4: an entire semester in three days. He was trying to
Speaker 4: you know, he's trying to learn. He was trying to
Speaker 4: get back all that he missed in three or four days.
Speaker 4: And I do think that maybe predisposed him to the
Speaker 4: oblique issues.
Speaker 3: But he just couldn't find that timing. And I think
Speaker 3: there is some pressure.
Speaker 4: You know, he has a high level responsibility of the team,
Speaker 4: the team's success, and he wasn't producing, and I think
Speaker 4: that frustrated him. And we saw him get out of
Speaker 4: his approach. Then you have the oblique issues. Now he's back.
Speaker 4: You know, obliques don't just go away within a month.
Speaker 4: I mean something he's gonna have to deal with all year.
Speaker 4: I do think like he was chasing out of the zone,
Speaker 4: you know, kind of going after some pitches. They were
Speaker 4: attacking him up and in I thought against when he's
Speaker 4: batting left handed and he was still trying to catch
Speaker 4: that pitch out front. It just wasn't there, The timing
Speaker 4: wasn't there. We've seen him take some walks of late
Speaker 4: and starting to drive the ball the other way. I
Speaker 4: think that's the big thing, you know, getting away from
Speaker 4: that approach. His mentality is always to hit the ball
Speaker 4: as hard as he can over the batter's eye. And
Speaker 4: what that does is it gets him on time to
Speaker 4: pull the ball when he's supposed to, whether that's on
Speaker 4: a hanging breaking ball, or he's on time enough to
Speaker 4: catch that fastball in the inner half that maybe isn't
Speaker 4: end quite enough to really pull it. But you know,
Speaker 4: hitters are human, and they get out of their approach,
Speaker 4: they start chasing the result instead of chasing the good
Speaker 4: at bat.
Speaker 3: And he's admit as much.
Speaker 4: So you know, last night he got a single the
Speaker 4: right He's had some more walks. I think that's the
Speaker 4: one big thing is don't chase pitchers around the strike zone.
Speaker 4: You know, you're just going to have to be stubborn
Speaker 4: to an approach, and if that doesn't yield the immediate results,
Speaker 4: you want, so be it. But that's the only way
Speaker 4: he's going to get back to the power levels that
Speaker 4: he wants is being able to drive, have the mentality
Speaker 4: of driving the ball to center, and then that'll open
Speaker 4: them up to really driving the ball to the pull
Speaker 4: side on both sides of the plate.
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Speaker 7: First off, how dare you accurately describe my academic tendencies
Speaker 7: and how I got Arizona State?
Speaker 6: Uh?
Speaker 7: Secondly, then with cals struggling just right now, is a
Speaker 7: bat what the Seattle needs most? Do they go because
Speaker 7: you got a lot of pitching while you said they've better,
Speaker 7: you're achieving, But what piece do they go out and
Speaker 7: get that helps them the most?
Speaker 3: Here?
Speaker 5: Then?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I would never talk bad about Arizona State and
Speaker 4: the fine academic institution that it is.
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, I mean it's the junior college
Speaker 3: of the Big twelve. Basically easy.
Speaker 4: I mean like it should be the greatest, it should
Speaker 4: be the greatest recruiting advantage ever.
Speaker 3: I've been to mill Avenue.
Speaker 4: It should be the easiest and greatest recruiting advantage ever.
Speaker 4: But I think that's the problem is it's a little
Speaker 4: too much fun. I think they like obviously it's easy
Speaker 4: to say they need another bat. They need a right
Speaker 4: handed bat. They really struggle against left handed pitching. It's
Speaker 4: been obvious, but I don't know that it's like how
Speaker 4: they fit that in will be interesting. Would probably be
Speaker 4: an outfielder most likely. You know, they're pretty heavy on
Speaker 4: position players, like especially when Donovan comes back and if
Speaker 4: other guys stay healthy.
Speaker 3: They really need a reliever.
Speaker 4: Matt Brash is not going to be back to right
Speaker 4: about I would say the trade deadline, him and Cooper Criswell,
Speaker 4: and they're missing a leverage arm and they were going
Speaker 4: to go get a right handed leverage arm anyways before
Speaker 4: Brash got hurt. They're trying to build this pan out
Speaker 4: into something really, you know, you know, really just like a.
Speaker 3: Dominant, lockdown bullpen.
Speaker 4: But they don't, you know, they need a right handed
Speaker 4: reliever to work that seventh or eighth inning. There isn't
Speaker 4: a ton of them out there. Like I heard you
Speaker 4: guys talking about the trade market and stuff. You know,
Speaker 4: there's only a handful of teams right now that are sellers.
Speaker 3: You know. I heard Kim mentioned Taylor Ward. Would he
Speaker 3: fit with the Marriors. Absolutely.
Speaker 4: It's weird though, like the Orioles in the maryor there's
Speaker 4: had so many fits over the last few Oh, that's wow,
Speaker 4: that's amazing.
Speaker 3: That's really amazing.
Speaker 4: The Mariners and the Orioles have had so many fits
Speaker 4: trade wise, it's never happened.
Speaker 3: Well, it's just like the starting pitching and stuff like that.
Speaker 4: You know, what would the Marriors go off their major
Speaker 4: league roster to get Taylor Ward? Would they or would
Speaker 4: they send a pitching prospect because like in years past,
Speaker 4: we always thought that maybe Bryce Miller would end up
Speaker 4: in Baltimore for one of their position players, you know,
Speaker 4: and it never happened. And you know, so that that
Speaker 4: that it hasn't happened. I don't really foresee it happening
Speaker 4: with Taylor Ward. I mean some people have mentioned, say
Speaker 4: as a zuki because like the Cubs, he's going to
Speaker 4: be a free agent. Like a right handing hitting a
Speaker 4: bat outfielder would help the Mariners, but I think their
Speaker 4: priority right now is to add a reliever, and you
Speaker 4: know that's that's the biggest one.
Speaker 3: But a right handed bat would help them in some way.
Speaker 4: Like they're so left handed dominant and they need to
Speaker 4: find a way. Maybe it is right now, like I
Speaker 4: think they're gonna play dom Canzone against left he's just
Speaker 4: a little bit more than they have because he's been
Speaker 4: okay against them, and he's a true power source for them.
Speaker 3: I mean, like you look at this team. They've been
Speaker 3: They were in.
Speaker 4: First place for over a month in the West, and
Speaker 4: that's with cal really not doing anything, Randy carrying most
Speaker 4: of it, and then they're relying on guys like Luke Rayley,
Speaker 4: Tom Canzone and Cole Young to carry a lot of
Speaker 4: the offensive burdens. So if they can kind of get going,
Speaker 4: I think that's the bigger key. But they'll they'll look
Speaker 4: it's Jerry Depoto. They're gonna be aggressive. It's just like
Speaker 4: the known needs aren't as simple as last year. Like
Speaker 4: last year when they went into the deadline, it was like, look,
Speaker 4: they need a first basement in a third baseman, and
Speaker 4: Suarez and Naylor happened to be out there, so it
Speaker 4: was an easy fix. This year, it's a little bit
Speaker 4: more complicated with how their roster is built. But the
Speaker 4: easiest fixed or the easiest the most glaring need is
Speaker 4: as a right handed reliever that can get some swing
Speaker 4: and miss.
Speaker 3: Now, whether that's.
Speaker 4: Lucas Ersag or somebody like that, that's probably what they're
Speaker 4: gonna do, all.
Speaker 5: Right, Ryan, So I'm gonna kind of hit a double
Speaker 5: sided question here. It's about the piggyback that you had mentioned,
Speaker 5: the piggyback system whatever. First of all, did they all
Speaker 5: truly agree to that? Did you? Did you delve more
Speaker 5: into that? And are they able to trade from that piggyback?
Speaker 5: And that's why they're doing it because they don't want
Speaker 5: to put X Pitcher in the pen and say, well
Speaker 5: he's a reliever, we're not going to get as much,
Speaker 5: so we're just going to keep them all starters till
Speaker 5: the trade deadline.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, like the I don't know if they
Speaker 3: all agreed to it.
Speaker 4: It was kind of like, you know, they're they were
Speaker 4: given different plans and they all agreed on one plan.
Speaker 4: I mean, I think they were all, Hey, this is
Speaker 4: we're going to piggyback, or we're going to go six man,
Speaker 4: or we're going to do something. We're not sending one
Speaker 4: of you guys to the bullpen, which is nobody wanted either.
Speaker 4: So they agreed on like the best possible scenario. I
Speaker 4: guess it's like it's like for me, if you gave
Speaker 4: me three vegetables, I had to eat, I would pick
Speaker 4: whatever one I could dump enough ranch on not to
Speaker 4: taste it like. And that's I think what the Mariners
Speaker 4: starters look at like they Okay, well there, here's all
Speaker 4: the scenarios, and we're going to do this.
Speaker 3: And you're right, the underlying thing is is keeping.
Speaker 4: Them all stretched out, because the value is isn't having
Speaker 4: stretched out starters. Now, whether that's a picture gets injured
Speaker 4: and you can just slot the other one in, or yes,
Speaker 4: maybe moving one of those guys in the trade, you know,
Speaker 4: whether it's Louis Castillo, who everybody says is the most
Speaker 4: logical option, that's one thing you could do, Like could
Speaker 4: they move Louis Castillo for that right handed bat with
Speaker 4: a contract Castillo's of money this year and next year?
Speaker 4: You know, similar like with Matt Chapman who's owed a
Speaker 4: lot of money. Can you swap the major league contracts?
Speaker 4: Make that work? But you can't.
Speaker 3: Those guys lose all their.
Speaker 4: Value if they're not stretched out, you know, I mean,
Speaker 4: especially to a team that's trying to contend or wants
Speaker 4: them right now you're trading for a major league star,
Speaker 4: or you want them to be able to start. So
Speaker 4: that is the underlying factor in all of this is
Speaker 4: keeping everybody stretched out. And you would say, well, what
Speaker 4: happens if you trade a starter and then somebody gets hurt. Well,
Speaker 4: the Mariners have Kate Anderson down at double A who
Speaker 4: is carving up double A, so they can go in
Speaker 4: that route. And they also have Ryan Sloan, who's probably
Speaker 4: the best right handed pitching prospect in baseball down in
Speaker 4: double A, who is moving up and it seems to
Speaker 4: be on an accelerated pace as well. So yeah, that's
Speaker 4: I think the underlying reason for the piggyback. It's a
Speaker 4: strategy that you're doing for a long term benefit of staying,
Speaker 4: keeping guys stretch out or making a move, and that's
Speaker 4: what you have to remember when in the short term
Speaker 4: it probably irritates everyone involved.
Speaker 7: Have you had a chance to uh talk to him
Speaker 7: or hear any of the fallout kind of from this
Speaker 7: Nailer and Hedges incident from last time?
Speaker 4: Not really, I mean, like, you know, Josh, I saw
Speaker 4: Josh talking with Manny Act a little bit probably about
Speaker 4: the situation, and like we joke with Josh when he
Speaker 4: walked by. Josh, we like you you know, like because
Speaker 4: like literally nobody likes you. Well, we like him, you know,
Speaker 4: I mean he's entertaining guy. I just think that's who
Speaker 4: Josh is as a player. He is going to try
Speaker 4: and get under his opponent's skin. We saw that this
Speaker 4: year in Detroit. You know, the sticking the elbow up
Speaker 4: to get hit by the curve ball. I mean, that's
Speaker 4: not uncommon in baseball. I mean you, I mean, you're
Speaker 4: in a college game. That's what you do. But like
Speaker 4: just I think they were irritated too when he did
Speaker 4: the deck in front of Rochio and the ground ball
Speaker 4: and Rokio threw it into the stands. You know, he
Speaker 4: was staring at Josh like what are you doing. Josh
Speaker 4: will take every single advantage to beat you, and he
Speaker 4: makes you know, he gives zero apologies for it. Like
Speaker 4: I watched a game where he played against his brother.
Speaker 4: He didn't speak to him the entire time Oh got
Speaker 4: to first base. Josh never spoke to him. It was crazy,
Speaker 4: But that's what he's trying to do. He's trying to
Speaker 4: beat you. He doesn't care if you like him or not.
Speaker 4: He makes no apologies. He's a lot like aj you know,
Speaker 4: I mean, like it's like Osny Gihan said about aj
Speaker 4: when you when you play against him, when you really
Speaker 4: you really hate him, and when he's on your team,
Speaker 4: you hate him.
Speaker 3: Just a little less.
Speaker 4: I mean, like I think I do think Josh's teammates
Speaker 4: really like him. I do think they, but you know,
Speaker 4: I'm sure they kind of look at him going damn,
Speaker 4: what are you doing here?
Speaker 5: Bro?
Speaker 4: But that's you know, that's how he plays. That's he needs.
Speaker 4: I think he needs to operate on that edge for success.
Speaker 4: I thought he played really well in the Guardian series,
Speaker 4: and I mean, if you been around the Guardians, there's
Speaker 4: a reason why Josh played really well in that series
Speaker 4: because he's trying to get back at them. Didn't like
Speaker 4: the organization, didn't like how he was treated, didn't think
Speaker 4: he was fair how they treated at some of his teammates.
Speaker 4: So he's going to try and get back at him
Speaker 4: and show them what they missed out on. I mean, like,
Speaker 4: that's if that's what you need to operate on the edge,
Speaker 4: or to find that kind of motivation to go out
Speaker 4: there and really give the extra you know, to find
Speaker 4: that success, and that's what you do. I mean, it's
Speaker 4: like Michael Jordan thinking every player in the world that
Speaker 4: ever guarded him, it snubbed him at one point in
Speaker 4: his life.
Speaker 3: Like that's what you do to get up, then that's
Speaker 3: what you do. I took that personally exactly.
Speaker 4: I mean, that's the thing is like Josh takes a
Speaker 4: lot of things personally and doesn't forget. And you know,
Speaker 4: I don't think he's the only pro athlete that does that.
Speaker 4: It's just he does it in a way that's a
Speaker 4: lot more open. It's just like the signaling of pitches
Speaker 4: and the tipping up pitches, he does not care, you know,
Speaker 4: and we don't even know if those are real or not.
Speaker 4: He doesn't care, like if he thinks it's going to
Speaker 4: get advantage, if he thinks that one pitch that he
Speaker 4: tips or the location that he tips allows somebody to
Speaker 4: a home run and they win the game, and that's
Speaker 4: ultimately what he cares about.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's good, right, It's like, what are you going
Speaker 2: to do? Hit me?
Speaker 5: Cool?
Speaker 2: Then I get first base? That helps me too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's definitely that guy, which I like. I mean,
Speaker 1: many teams feel like they need someone like that. So
Speaker 1: I know the Mariners were eager to keep him, and
Speaker 1: they did great to have you on great to catch
Speaker 1: up with you, Ryan. Appreciate the time in and check
Speaker 1: out Ryan's articles in the Seattle Times.
Speaker 2: We'll talk to you soon, Bud.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Kip, just keep that cap and gown ready.
Speaker 4: You know when they make you an honorary doctorate there
Speaker 4: at Arizona State too, you'll just speak at the graduation
Speaker 4: or anything like that.
Speaker 3: Keep it up, Keep it up, Washington, get up, doctor kidness.
Speaker 5: That got a good time to bring to it. Thank
Speaker 5: you right.
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Speaker 1: Let's suck to Myrlin Speed, writer and editor for fish On. First,
Speaker 1: It's Isacazoo and it's your birthday today, dude.
Speaker 2: It is my birthday today. I'm turning twenty. Happy birthday,
Speaker 2: Happy birthday. All right.
Speaker 1: Still in prime baseball year, which is great. We love
Speaker 1: that the front offices won't get after you until you
Speaker 1: hit thirty. Then they're going to say you're declining on
Speaker 1: your writing and all of that. But you look great
Speaker 1: right now. You've got two years left, so let's really
Speaker 1: make the most of it. Let's talk about this team.
Speaker 1: Why are they so good in June? And do you
Speaker 1: think that they will buy some bats at the trade deadline?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 8: What a month, right? Nineteen and six in the month
Speaker 8: of June. A chance to get twenty wins this month
Speaker 8: tonight in Colorado with Eury Perez on the mound. And
Speaker 8: I know it's a cliche, but it's just been a
Speaker 8: combination of all facets of this team right now that
Speaker 8: has contributed to this team being so good. I'll start
Speaker 8: with the starting pitching, Samuel Contra capping off a six
Speaker 8: to oh month of June for this team. Max Meyer
Speaker 8: has not endured a loss on a decision all year long.
Speaker 2: He's nine and zero. He should be a lot to
Speaker 2: be an All Star.
Speaker 8: And then guys like Tyler Phillips and Ryan Gusso have been,
Speaker 8: you know, holding their own in that rotation. After injuries
Speaker 8: came to Uri Perez and Chance and Junk and Robbie Snelling,
Speaker 8: they've really had to depend on other guys and they've
Speaker 8: been coming through. And that's just not even discussing the
Speaker 8: offense that has just been superb for the most part.
Speaker 8: We all know about their All star middle infield and
Speaker 8: Auto Lopez and Xavier Edwards, but then you look at
Speaker 8: guys like Joe Mack coming really into his own at
Speaker 8: the plate while being simultaneously the best defensive catcher in baseball.
Speaker 8: I will say that you see Owen Casey get to going,
Speaker 8: Cayl Stowers is finally looking like last year's Kyle Star
Speaker 8: Wars Griffin Cohen and his back off the il. He
Speaker 8: hit one into outer space last night to really secure
Speaker 8: the win for them. And it's just been a well
Speaker 8: rounded group of guys for this Marlins team that has
Speaker 8: contributed to them having one of the best months in
Speaker 8: franchise history.
Speaker 5: I'm not even gonna go with June. I'm gonna go
Speaker 5: with the date that Joe Mack came up. How much
Speaker 5: a team that is built on pitching because they supposedly
Speaker 5: have cavalcades of pitchers coming from the minor leagues in
Speaker 5: the bullpen and into the bullpen, to the rotation, all
Speaker 5: that stuff, and you bring in a Joe Mack. Liam
Speaker 5: Hicks was almost a All Star before his injury. How
Speaker 5: much has Joe Mack changed this success and can he
Speaker 5: be or is it too early in his career to
Speaker 5: say this guy's a winning catcher. No matter what he
Speaker 5: does offensively.
Speaker 2: He's a winning catcher.
Speaker 8: The intangibles that he provides you know when he's not
Speaker 8: or just on the basis every his baseball IQ was
Speaker 8: just enormous in my opinion. And yeah, you circle that
Speaker 8: day when he didn't make his major league debuts of
Speaker 8: Marlin and you know what, obviously Ramirez is a great player,
Speaker 8: but you could just tell instantly the difference for the
Speaker 8: starting pitchers for the relievers. Everyone's throwing to that catcher
Speaker 8: is just a different ballgame. For you know, teams aren't
Speaker 8: running crazy on the Marlins anymore. They are looking forward
Speaker 8: to teams running on them because they know Joe Mack
Speaker 8: is more than likely going to throw them.
Speaker 2: Out at the plate.
Speaker 8: His receiving is incredible, his blocking is impeccable, and he's
Speaker 8: just really been a hell of an addition to this
Speaker 8: Marlins team over the last month and a half or so.
Speaker 8: And yeah, if he starts hitting offensively, I don't think
Speaker 8: it even matters what he does offensively, but the fact
Speaker 8: that he is holding his own with the bat, I
Speaker 8: think that's a real start that they have. And if
Speaker 8: it were me, I would try and hold on hold
Speaker 8: on to him for as long as possible.
Speaker 5: I mean, part of this too, maybe coincides with the
Speaker 5: no more pitches from the dugout. So was it the
Speaker 5: fact that Augustine Ramirez they changed. They changed exactly, how
Speaker 5: like it's now the catcher's first choice is what I read?
Speaker 5: Did I get that wrong?
Speaker 8: From what I understand, the pitches are still being called
Speaker 8: from the dugout.
Speaker 5: It didn't change when Joe Mack got called up, So
Speaker 5: it's a completely okay, So I lied. I'll ask a
Speaker 5: different question then, Is the changes that he's made behind
Speaker 5: the dish going to change anything when Liam Hicks comes back?
Speaker 5: Is the fact? Is he going to be a five
Speaker 5: day a week guy? Is he going to be a
Speaker 5: three to four day a week guy. It's going to
Speaker 5: be a split duties.
Speaker 8: That's a great question. When he was called the initially
Speaker 8: Hicks was on the roster, and from what I was told,
Speaker 8: it was going to be Max starts behind the plate
Speaker 8: against right handed pitching and he would maybe DH or
Speaker 8: maybe he'd just be on the bench against left handed pitching,
Speaker 8: where Hicks would get the bulk of starting against those matchups.
Speaker 8: But you know, Mac has just been so good and
Speaker 8: so valuable, and you can see how much these guys.
Speaker 2: Like throwing to him.
Speaker 8: I think he can start a five days a week
Speaker 8: no matter who's on the mound for the opposing team.
Speaker 8: You just look at the numbers. The era since he's
Speaker 8: been called up has just been it's been dropping ever since,
Speaker 8: and so I do see him being there every single
Speaker 8: day guy, especially with the fact that you know they
Speaker 8: don't love what they're getting out of first base d ah.
Speaker 2: I think they could.
Speaker 8: They would love to have Hicks just focus on hitting
Speaker 8: and be their designated hitter, or maybe getting some starts
Speaker 8: at first space as well. But it's really just nice
Speaker 8: to have a plethora of options for this team behind
Speaker 8: the dish, when just a couple of years ago they
Speaker 8: couldn't find one solid option.
Speaker 2: By the way, I screwed the Rockies, right.
Speaker 5: I read a lot of articles, but I'm not good
Speaker 5: at reading, so I screwed it up. It was the
Speaker 5: Rockies and not the Marlins, so right.
Speaker 2: Just for clarification with our fans.
Speaker 1: Right, So those are the two teams known to have
Speaker 1: either all or many.
Speaker 2: Pitches suggested from the dugout.
Speaker 1: What I read recently too, is that the Rockies were
Speaker 1: pausing that temporarily. The Marlins are still roaring, and I mean, Isaac,
Speaker 1: you know this. They're doing many things differently, and that's
Speaker 1: part of what Peter Bendix was going to do right is, Hey,
Speaker 1: if you're Marlin's ownership, you're going to bring in the
Speaker 1: guy who was part of a front office up the
Speaker 1: road that clearly was able to turn a little into
Speaker 1: a lot. Do you feel as if he's been putting
Speaker 1: his own stamp on what he's doing? Like, I feel
Speaker 1: like there's some experimentation, especially with I mean that's a
Speaker 1: good example of course, from calling pitches in the dugout
Speaker 1: to finding diamonds in the rough like an Otto Lopez
Speaker 1: and really look at their better hitters right now, right Hicks,
Speaker 1: no one wanted him, even Xavier Edwards wasn't like the
Speaker 1: key piece of the trade and he had bounced around
Speaker 1: a little bit. So what do you feel like the
Speaker 1: stamp is of this organization that actually dippers it from
Speaker 1: the rays.
Speaker 8: Yeah, it's all innovation. You hear that word all over
Speaker 8: the place, especially with GM Gabe Capler. Think that's a
Speaker 8: great example of some of that Peter Bendix stamp is
Speaker 8: bringing in Gabe Kapler to be their main GM, and
Speaker 8: it's just innovation all over the place. You mentioned the
Speaker 8: pitch calling from the dugout, You mentioned the traject machines,
Speaker 8: which now every team does it. They have these strange
Speaker 8: different balls that they used for batting practice, which you're
Speaker 8: seeing more all around major League Baseball. It's just different
Speaker 8: stuff all over the place, whether it's before the game,
Speaker 8: after the game, during the game. It's just innovation all around,
Speaker 8: and it is great to see just these diamonds and
Speaker 8: the rough guys like Tyler Phillips, for example, he has
Speaker 8: been aside from one clunker in Philadelphia, he has been
Speaker 8: such a valuable asset to that pitching staff all season long,
Speaker 8: and he was traded for what was it cash right
Speaker 8: before opening day last year. So I think just finding
Speaker 8: these these gems, these hidden gems all over the place.
Speaker 8: Also is one of Peter Bendix's stamps, because hey, I
Speaker 8: mean Outo Lopez. He was designated for assignment twice before
Speaker 8: Peter picked him up, and now he's arguably an all
Speaker 8: start shortstop.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 7: This month has definitely turned them into buyers. If anything right,
Speaker 7: they're not gonna work, They're not gonna have this great month,
Speaker 7: get back into it, and because still be sellers or
Speaker 7: what are you hearing or what are you thinking?
Speaker 8: Yeah, I spoke to someone in the organization earlier this morning,
Speaker 8: and you know, with caution, a lot can happen between
Speaker 8: now in August third. But I assuming that they are
Speaker 8: in a similar position that they are in now, which
Speaker 8: is holding a third wildcard spot a few games over
Speaker 8: five hundred, you're definitely going to see some additions to
Speaker 8: the major league team. Now. I don't expect them to
Speaker 8: be trading a top five prospect for any two month rentals.
Speaker 2: I don't see them.
Speaker 8: Going all in quote unquote, that's just not the Peter
Speaker 8: Bendix way. It's to be as good as possible for
Speaker 8: as long as possible, as soon as possible. We hear
Speaker 8: that over and over again. But I do see them,
Speaker 8: you know, selling high on certain guys. That's sort of
Speaker 8: the Tama Bay Rays wigh as well. And if there's
Speaker 8: a prospect that's really shot up his stock this year,
Speaker 8: maybe like a Carson Millbrandt, I wouldn't be shocked to
Speaker 8: see some higher tier prospects dealt for some long term
Speaker 8: major league help as well.
Speaker 2: But certainly if they're in a playoff spot.
Speaker 8: Or even close to it, you'll definitely see some additions
Speaker 8: made to the major roster because there's some holes on
Speaker 8: that roster for.
Speaker 7: Sure, and now where that was my follow up question,
Speaker 7: what holes would you like to see if they're going
Speaker 7: to be buyers, if you're going to see additions, what
Speaker 7: holes needed to be filled in?
Speaker 5: First?
Speaker 8: I think first and foremost third base. Third base has
Speaker 8: been a black hole of offense. I believe they're having
Speaker 8: the worst offensive production all of Major League Baseball from
Speaker 8: that position there the WRC plus it's got to be
Speaker 8: in the seventies at third base, and that's a position
Speaker 8: that you want to see some offense from. So I
Speaker 8: do think that they're going to try and fill that
Speaker 8: hole a little bit. They had a guy maybe Jacob
Speaker 8: Barry would have been called up, but he has not
Speaker 8: been performing too well. So I could see them plugging
Speaker 8: a hole there at the trade deadline, as well as
Speaker 8: some pitching depth. I don't think we'll see them going
Speaker 8: after a reliever because they've built really one of the
Speaker 8: better bullpens in all of Major League Baseball with some
Speaker 8: of those obscure names that you know, no one really
Speaker 8: valued except for Peter and then so I would see
Speaker 8: like maybe a bridge edition sort of like a Ryan Gusto,
Speaker 8: Teyler Phillips guy, or someone that could sort of bridge
Speaker 8: innings for them because they're gonna need some death assuming
Speaker 8: you know, no injuries happened the Euri Perez went down
Speaker 8: Chats and Judge should come back in the next couple
Speaker 8: of weeks. But they could definitely use some more pitching depth,
Speaker 8: And I think that's the avenue that they would go
Speaker 8: to because they could use some help. They're fortunate that
Speaker 8: they're that they're in the position they're in, given how
Speaker 8: many injuries they've endured, all.
Speaker 5: Right, so does that completely relieve them of an He
Speaker 5: talks about Sandy al Contra.
Speaker 8: Well before the season, I was told that just because
Speaker 8: they trade Sandy doesn't necessarily mean they're selling up, that
Speaker 8: they're giving up on the year, right, But personally, I
Speaker 8: don't see how you can trade the guy who just
Speaker 8: went six to zero in the month of June and
Speaker 8: who is your leader and who is your all time
Speaker 8: strikeout king and not be sort of waving the white flag.
Speaker 8: So it's going to be a really tough decision to make.
Speaker 8: This is also going to be at the hands of
Speaker 8: Bruce Sherman. He's going to have to press a proof
Speaker 8: on whatever potential deal does come to his desk. If
Speaker 8: they're five to ten games over five hundred and in
Speaker 8: a wildcard position. I don't see how you can do it.
Speaker 8: But remember this is Peter Bendix. This is someone that
Speaker 8: is not emotionally invested the way I am, for example,
Speaker 8: the way fans are. So if he thinks that there's
Speaker 8: a deal to be made where the team can still
Speaker 8: be just as good and he can really better the
Speaker 8: future of the team by trading this man, then he's
Speaker 8: going to do it, or he's at least going to
Speaker 8: suggest it to the owners. So I couldn't tell you
Speaker 8: what percentage it would be that Sandy's gone, but I
Speaker 8: think the better that they play, the lower that percentage goes.
Speaker 5: You said, Peter Bendix is not a fan. He's just
Speaker 5: going to make the decisions. Is the owner a fan,
Speaker 5: because there's some momentum going on. Not all owners are fans.
Speaker 5: So that's why I asked that is he a fan?
Speaker 5: Because if he is, there's no way. But if he isn't,
Speaker 5: then you go, well, then this is the history of
Speaker 5: the Marlins based on other owners.
Speaker 2: He's a big baseball fan.
Speaker 8: He cares a lot, He watches almost every single game,
Speaker 8: and he has opinions on a lot of the managerial decisions.
Speaker 8: He's a really cool guy who is a big Saniel
Speaker 8: Gantada fan. Sandy was traded to the Marlins two months
Speaker 8: after Bruce Sherman bought the team, so they have been
Speaker 8: completely overlapped with each other over the last nine seasons.
Speaker 8: He has seen what Sandy has meant to the organization,
Speaker 8: to the community, to the city, to that stadium, to
Speaker 8: the attendance in that stadium or lack thereof, And so yes,
Speaker 8: to answer your question, Bruce Shervan certainly is a fan
Speaker 8: of Sandiel Cantara and it would not be an easy
Speaker 8: conversation to have when Peter does eventually find a deal
Speaker 8: made for Sandy, and to go upstairs and tell Bruce
Speaker 8: it's not gonna be a sure go ahead, there's gonna
Speaker 8: be a conversation.
Speaker 5: Hat all right, Pete Fairbanks shows he's healthy, he's back.
Speaker 5: Is there somebody that they could have step into the
Speaker 5: closer role that they feel comfortable with if somebody comes calling, Because,
Speaker 5: like you said, Peter Bendex is fine, fine with adding
Speaker 5: talent for the long term. But also what did you
Speaker 5: say the short term or the now? I forget exactly
Speaker 5: what you said. It was a catchy phrase.
Speaker 8: Yeah, as good as possible, for as long as possible,
Speaker 8: as soon as possible. You're saying, if Pete is traded,
Speaker 8: could they find someone? To me, it seems like Pete's
Speaker 8: their guy. I think if there's one reliever that they
Speaker 8: could move on from, it would be him, given how
Speaker 8: much money he's being owed. And they do have some
Speaker 8: really high leverage arms. Like I said, it's one of
Speaker 8: the better bullpens in all of Major League Baseball. We've
Speaker 8: seen Anthony Bender receive a lot of high leverage spots.
Speaker 8: We've seen John King come in, Michael Peterson come in.
Speaker 8: So I don't see them moving on from any of
Speaker 8: those other relievers should they be in the playoff race.
Speaker 8: But if one guy could be dangled, maybe it's Pete Fairbanks.
Speaker 8: But like I said, if they continue to win, it
Speaker 8: just wouldn't make much sense to remove someone from that bullpen,
Speaker 8: even though he's not performing as well as he would
Speaker 8: have liked. They do have some pretty attractive options down
Speaker 8: in TRIPAA as well. Josh eacknest is supposed to come
Speaker 8: off the aisle soon as well, so they've got a
Speaker 8: plethora of bullpen options to work with.
Speaker 1: As a last one for you just to get the
Speaker 1: pulse of Miami, And I know it's always super competitive
Speaker 1: down there to try and get fans to care, especially
Speaker 1: mid season.
Speaker 2: How do you feel the pulses right now?
Speaker 1: Like do fans realize that this team's got a little
Speaker 1: something cooking or does the lack of starf our power
Speaker 1: right like there's not a lot of known names on
Speaker 1: this team kind of hurt things when you're marketing. I know,
Speaker 1: right because I've lived down there too. It's like good
Speaker 1: is only one layer. You actually have to be like, oh,
Speaker 1: we're going to see so and so, right, We're going
Speaker 1: to see Jose Fernandez or John Carlos stand So what's
Speaker 1: it like down there? Since I don't live there at
Speaker 1: this moment, I'm an Orlando guy.
Speaker 8: They've had some pretty successful promotional weekends over the last
Speaker 8: couple of weeks that maybe have skewed the attendants a
Speaker 8: little bit. I know, the FanFest was a big success.
Speaker 8: We saw the all the Scottish fans come over to
Speaker 8: Lone Deepo Park.
Speaker 2: That was a lot of fun.
Speaker 8: So it's this difficult for me to gauge exactly how
Speaker 8: much of that is because of the product on the field.
Speaker 8: I know that the World Cup is probably overshadowed a
Speaker 8: little bit of what's going on at Lone Deepot Park.
Speaker 8: Jan It's not that the Kumbo coming to the Miami
Speaker 8: Heat probably won't help that much either. But you know,
Speaker 8: when this road trip is all said and done, after
Speaker 8: they finished with Colorado, they've got one more series over
Speaker 8: the weekend in Sacramento. We'll see how much how many
Speaker 8: fans show up. But to me, it was pretty loud
Speaker 8: at Loan Deepo Park over the weekend. With Sandy's breaking
Speaker 8: records and they're winning ball games and their winning series
Speaker 8: against the Texas Rangers, there seems to be a little
Speaker 8: bit more buzz in the air. And it wasn't just
Speaker 8: because of the Scottish people. It was because of those
Speaker 8: Marlins fans that were well known on what was happening
Speaker 8: with the ball club and that they're competing for a
Speaker 8: playoff spot.
Speaker 1: Finally, Okay, good to know. Yeah, I mean, all they
Speaker 1: can do is put dubs together. Isaac, good stuff man,
Speaker 1: happy birthday.
Speaker 2: Enjoy it. Thank you guys very much. I appreciate it. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Same.
Speaker 2: Here.
Speaker 1: That's Isaacazoo from fish On First, a Marlin speet writer
Speaker 1: and by the way, you can check out the show here.
Speaker 1: It is a little promo page for you. Clayton McCullough
Speaker 1: stops by frequently Marlin's manager to chat with the guys,
Speaker 1: So if you want to see the latest episode with
Speaker 1: Clayton McCullough, you can go find that on the Fish
Speaker 1: on First podcast page wherever you get your pods, and
Speaker 1: also on their YouTube channel part of the FT Network. Also,
Speaker 1: I've been told Ata Lopez might join us next week
Speaker 1: and we'll try and give him some pub because he
Speaker 1: deserves to be an All Star