Heavy Weighs the Crown - Can The Mariners Extend Their Lead in the West? Meet at the Mitt Podcast

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John Trupin
Hello and welcome.

Thank you all for meeting us at the Mitt. My name is John Trupen.

I am the deputy managing editor@littleconlanding.com. And I am so thrilled to have you here at the Meet at the Mitt podcast brought to you by the good people of lookout landing.com. Joining me this morning, glowering from behind a lovely University of Washington purple and gold mug of what I hope is extra strength coffee, is Kate Proesser, managing editor of lookoutlanding.com. Kate.

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John Trupin
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Speaker C
I'm trying hard not to, like, talk about or think about yesterday's game against the Orioles, because what a fart of a game to have had to recap. Just a. Well, the middle part was not bad. The beginning was bad, the end was bad. The middle part I was. When it was only, like, five to two, I was actually like, oh, this might be one of the most enjoyable losses I've ever had to recap. And then, you know, they blew the doors off at the end there, so that got less fun. But what a bummer. The Orioles are very legit and I sort of hate them.

John Trupin
The dulcet tones you heard.

Joining us that is Evan James, our audio engineer, and the.

I do want to hear a little bit more just about that game because I think it is. Maybe it's an interesting question of, like, what is the more. A more enjoyable loss.

You know, the mariners kind of got down so quickly there, and really, I mean, you know, this is not the sharpest. We've seen Bryce Miller in that first inning, but that's also just, that's a really, really, really good lineup.

And, you know, that you're getting hit, hit by this. This, you know, batch of players is not inherently, I think, such a terrible indictment. Right. The, you know, the Orioles, I think, are third in the American League and runs scored, um, despite playing in that ballpark, which is, I believe they're actually.

Speaker C
First in run in the American League and run scored per game, or at.

John Trupin
Least they were per game, honestly. Yeah, that. I'm just looking at raw totals, but I. Yeah, that would make sense.

Yeah. I mean, they, that is a real house of an offense. You know, Kate, you were saying before we started that, you know, MLB Network was talking about this, you know, because I was like, you know, this is the first place team in the American League west, is the. Well, second place team in the American League east, but, you know, one of the contenders, and that it was essentially lined up as the young pitching against the young hitting.

I mean, what, you know, what, what really turned this into a sort of grim stupor that, that you're portraying a little bit now.

Speaker C
Yeah, it just like, it wasn't fun. It wasn't like, competitive. It was just Bryce getting hammered in that first inning. And I think, like, there were problem like, it. The Orioles obviously came in ready for, like, they had a plan. The plan was to be aggressive. And I feel like you've seen teams deploy that plan against Miller, against Wu, against Kirby. The difference is, if any of those pitchers are a little off, obviously, because they live so much in the zone, it can create a lot of card contact.

And also that lineup, like they are going, if their bats get on the balls, they are going to do some damage. And that's what you saw. Just like the amount of damage that lineup can do.

Just not even all the young guys like the Jorge Mateo did some damage in that game as well. You know, their elder statesman, Anthony Santander, who I think is like, maybe one of the more underrated players in baseball has just been consistently. Ryan Mountcastle reclamation project like everything is just clicking in Baltimore. And it was really, really, really a bummer to watch Bryce not command well, the pitch that he made to Kauser, that was like first pitch. I think Kauser hit it for a double, two or three run double.

It was terrible pitch. It was like in the middle of the zone.

It was not deceptive and the Orioles were not fooled. So that was, it was kind of a bummer not to see to. I understand, like you're sticking with the stuff. You don't want to get off of the fastball too early. But I really wish that we had seen some of the secondary stuff start to come out. He just couldn't get to it, though. They were jumping on everything early and location was a problem. So as unfun as that was to watch, it was really fun to watch him battle back, pull himself together, start commanding to those edges. And, you know, sometimes the offense has to be capable of picking him up. Five runs is a lot, but it's not an insurmountable ask. And it looked for a little while there like they might be able to do something. And I think if they'd been at full strength, if they'd had Polanco, if they'd had JP, maybe, although it wasn't exactly like lighting it up before he got hurt, you know, maybe with a, with a lineup that was just, or even just a lineup that's clicking on all of its cylinders, there's a chance that they get back into that one, but they didn't. And it was entertaining to watch and then less entertaining to watch.

But I have to commend Bryce Miller because what a, you know, no quit in him. What an adjustment made mid game that is not a start he's going to be happy about, but I hope that it's one that like with some time he can reflect on that and feel proud about what he did, especially with the way they stacked all those lefties. Like that's going to blow up his numbers against lefties, which sucks. But I don't think that the problem there was necessarily the lefties. I don't think he has the same degree of a lefty problem that he had last year where it's just like teams would stack.

Yeah, I mean, he has just so the problem was just pure location, I think, and just getting too much play.

It wasn't like this guy torched him because he is left handed. It is. This guy torched him because he was sitting first pitch fastball and Bryce's fastball has a lot of deception. For whatever reason, I think it just didn't. It wasn't fooling any of the Orioles that day, at least not in that first inning.

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John Trupin
I'm curious because, you know, now that we're about, you know, 40, what is this? We're 45 games into the season.

We're seeing, you know, this lineup that is at least currently, maybe Blanco's back today or tomorrow.

You know, we're finally beginning to get into that 100, 150 plate appearance sample size where it's not just, oh, Luke Rayleigh had a terrible first two weeks and should we cut him? Oh, Mitch Hanniger's all the way back. You know, he's started out hot here. Oh, Julio's just, you know, completely unable to hit or, you know, I mean, Cal started off real cold himself.

And we're seeing, you know, like, Josh Rojas stay strong. Josh Rojas getting more opportunities to play against left handed pitching and at least putting good contact on the ball on a few occasions recently.

Curious, because JP is on the cusp of returning and ideally, Polanco will be as well.

We've got Rojas, we've got JP, we've got Polanco, then you kind of are looking at the corner outfield spots where Rayleigh is hitting well, where Canzone has been hitting well and has come back and seemed like he is in rhythm again still.

And you also have Dylan Moore, who is one of the team's best hitters and just players overall, where.

Who. Who is going to be getting faded here? Because even in a platoon situation, is this going to be where we see Hanniger being pretty solidly transitioned into more of a platoon player?

Um, you know, where he's only starting against lefties, so that Canzone and Rayleigh are. Are in the corners, and even then, you're still likely sitting, you know, Dylan Moore, as long as Garver is healthy.

Kate Preusser
They'Re in kind of a weird spot, right. Because we anticipated that the struggles would be with different players than they've been so far. Like, our assumption was maybe only one of the third baseman works out, or, you know, maybe we didn't plan for Mitch Hanniger to be the one to clearly lose playing time, which is a situation we find ourselves looking at. I took some flak for the last episode because I described his defense as slightly above average.

And then, thankfully, our fan base actually went and looked. And Mitch Hanniger's defense is generously bottom 10% of the league right now.

And so when we're talking about somebody who's not contributing, unfortunately, he's the clear cut case of somebody who deserves to have their playing time cut. And it's. It's tough because he's so important to.

To the makeup of the team and the leadership. What do you guys think they do about that?

Speaker C
I'll say this. I think we. And I'll defer to John on this because John is our resident Mitch Hannaker expert. But we all know Hannigar is a streaky player, and having watched, you know, the last few games pretty carefully, I think he's out at the beginning of another hot streak.

He is, I think, making better swing decisions.

He's doing some of the same stuff that he did during spring training, which is where he'd fall down. Oh, two. He'd work it back. Three, two.

I did a thing about this, about how the Mariners are seeing a lot of pitches. For a while there, I don't know if this is true anymore. I haven't checked this lately, but they were seeing the most pitches in baseball along with the Yankees, but it wasn't doing them any good because they would get in these full counts, and they would just strike out the exception to that is Mitch Hanniger. If Mitch Hanniger gets into a full count, he hits better than Shohei Ohtani, who has had the same number of full count plate appearances roughly and is hitting like 178 to Hanegar's, like 375. If Hannaker gets into a three two count, pitchers throw him a good pitch and he is able to do something with it, or he takes it for a walk.

He does strike out, too, because, you know, that's always a risk when you are in a full count. And their overall problem is that they get into too many two strike counts, period. They foul off too many balls. That's why they see so many pitches but don't do a lot with it, is they're just not squaring it up. But, um.

So, Hanniger, I think you're seeing. And you're just seeing the hits start to come. You know, he saw some of it during the royal series. I think that was a turning point for him. He had a hit yesterday.

I think Mitch Hanger is on the upswing offensively, I would agree.

John Trupin
I do think ultimately, he is going to be at least slightly marginalized in terms of his role, because there's just his track record is that of always being someone who hits lefties really well. I think you're right that his swing is looking better in this last little stretch, but they have to nail it with not just sort of, you know, how they construct their lineup, but who they are playing, at which moments, because they have such a platoon reliant group, and I don't think they want to play Rayleigh every day. Or rather, I really don't think they want to put Rayleigh in too many positions to face lefties.

And so I think that part of what saw that downslide was that, yeah, you're playing a guy who has, you know, I think he's. He's what? He's now at 42 games this year in the last two seasons, basically, he's. He's like 15 to 20 games away from eclipsing his total games played in either of the last two seasons. So, like, you know, I know he does a lot to keep himself in great shape. I think the reality is he has taken so many lumps that he does need a little bit more of a break. He's 33. He is one of the older players on this roster, and I think it's good for the Mariners that they're struggling. Players are mostly still, like, around league average hitters, at least by, like, you know, weighted, you know, balanced metrics, like WRC plus, certainly not necessarily by, like, cumulative numbers. But I do think that Hannigar, because of the defense and because of the. The sort of limitations there is going to need to be scaled back, at least when there is time for everyone to be healthy.

And I think that gives him the best chance to be successful. And I think it gives the rest of the lineup the best chance to be successful, because this is a lineup that at this point needs to rely on Luke Rayleigh and Dominic Canzone and Josh Rojas to continue to be very good hitters, at least as long as Julio is still climbing back out.

And again, I mean, we saw yesterday, I think, in the first inning, Julio's first contact was like a laser that just got. Just was right. At some point, it was like 100 miles an hour, or 100 miles an hour plus line drive off the bat, like exact contact that you're taught to try and hit just, you know, at the center fielder, I believe it was. So, you know, I think that's gonna get there for him. But, Kate, you know, there was an article recently about Josh Rojas and Julio sort of bouncing.

Speaker C
Yes, I actually.

I have that same article that I was also working on.

John Trupin
Well, I was.

Speaker C
I still do it because I talked to each of them individually about less. So about mechanics and more about just kind of like the friendship that's being forged there because they are.

And it's interesting because when Rojas came last year, you know, he's new guy on the team, he's friendly, and everyone likes him, but, you know, he doesn't have, like, a posse yet, you know, and it's a tough clubhouse to break into, I think, because you have the tie. JP, Dylan Moore, they all have their lockers together at one corner of the clubhouse.

They've been together forever. They've survived the cherry depot, you know, trades. Yeah, exactly.

And they're tight. And it's. It's tough to get into that group.

Then, you know, the pitchers all have their clips, so they're all at this other side. The relievers are all over here, and then the rest is kind of like, there's Julio and Cal has the locker closest to the dining room and furthest away from reporters.

And then it's just kind of like random sprinklings of whoever's in there.

And that's where Rojas was. And I mean physically, but also kind of like mentally, you know, that just a little bit on the outsides, a little bit on the fringes. And now it definitely seems more like he's well integrated again, when you are the most reliable hitter in the lineup every night and you're helping your teammates out, I think that's a really good way to endure yourself quickly. But he's also just, you see why his teammates in Arizona, like, loved him and were really sad when he got traded. His Instagram post was full of teammates because being like, no.

And that says a lot. And he attached himself to Julio, which I think is smart because why wouldn't you? Right?

But I think that both of them, he saw that Julio kind of needed, like, an older brother figure.

And I think that that's really what he has become. And it's.

Rojas loves to talk and he loves to dispense advice.

And I think Julio did kind of need that, and he had that with Ta Oscar a little bit. But Ta Oscar Rojas has really embraced, I think, that role of let's get you back to being great. And there's this real similarity between the two of them, too. They are both Julio. You wouldn't know it because he looks so cool surfer like he is. And we've talked about this before. He's such a worker.

You don't see it. You don't always see him out for early batting practice, but he's there. He's like, you know, Scott service talked about he's beat him to the park some days. Like he's.

He's in there grinding. And Rojas. Absolutely, as well. Rojas is just like a baseball junkie. And there was this thing in the clubhouse where Rojas is sitting there watching MLB tv, like super intently.

Because I think that is what Rojas does all the time, is he is always engaged in some way in baseball.

And he's sitting there. And then Luke Rayleigh was over at the other end of the clubhouse, comes over, like, flops down next to him on the couch, lying all the way across, like one end, just hanging out. And then Julio comes out and he sees the two of them. He stops, he talks to Rojas. He goes off, he gets food. He comes back, he sits next to Rojas. And all three of them are, like, sitting together, talking, watching MLB tv. And I just. I feel like that is.

Yeah, they're talking mechanics. I'm sure they're working on that when they're in the cages. But also just like, that other aspect of, like being comfortable, of liking the game, of having fun, of getting back to being him. And what made this jump out to me was Rojas told Shannon Dreher on a pre game show that he thinks people forget Julio's just 23.

And then Julio was being interviewed on KJR, and he said basically verbatim, I think people forget, I'm just 23. And I was like, oh, that's obviously a conversation that the two of them have had together. That's a talking point.

And maybe in some way, Rojas is helping Julio just kind of get back to being that, because Julio was not having fun during the first few weeks of the season, there was, you know, he always puts on a good face. But Julio told Shannon Dreher on 710, like, I think people. Or Rojas told Shannon Dreyer on 710, I think people forget Julio is only 23. And Julio said the exact same thing in an interview on KJR. I think people forget, I'm 23. And, you know, they've known me as Julio, but not. They forget on this. I'm a kid. I'm a kid who loves to play baseball. And I think Rojas is helping Julio get back to that.

Kate Preusser
Josh Rojas was the Roberto Clementi award winner with Arizona, right?

Speaker C
He was, yeah.

Kate Preusser
Yeah. I think it's hard to overstate just how much adding that camaraderie and that level of veteran leadership and poise brings to this team. And we talked so much last year about how they were kind of missing that veteran presence that they had in Carlos Santana. And I think it's a really underrated facet of the Mariners identifying Josh Rojas, that he does seem to be that missing piece in terms of team chemistry in so many ways. And that's not a thing that any of us are ever gonna figure out. Looking at his stat line on fan grass and seeing that he had one home run when we acquired him last year. Right. Like, um. So props to the front office for really knowing that he was more of a commodity than. Than we would have assumed.

Speaker C
I think, too, it's funny because veteran. Veteran leadership, he's 30. Like, it's not. He's not exactly like somebody who he is, in a lot of ways, somebody who's at the beginning of his own.

You know, he's not been in the league that long. He's not a grizzled vet. But when you look at 30 to 23 and, like, four years versus two years, it is.

It's approachable enough where it's almost more of, like, a brotherhood, and it's something where both sides can get something out of it, rather than just the one side continually giving leadership and mentorship and the other side just absorbing it. There's a lot Josh Rojas can learn from Julio, too.

John Trupin
Yeah, it is funny, Julio. And, you know, I mean, Rojas obviously went to. Went to college and was. Was drafted out of Hawaii, but, like, was incredibly low. But they entered the sport at the same time. They.

They entered the pros at the same time in 2017.

And, you know, Rojas has been in the majors since 2019 and has played at least a little bit every year since 2019. But Julio debuted in 2022 and has 300 fewer plate appearances than him in half as many years. Now, obviously, Rojas. I mean, the point of that is Rojas has been up and down. It's taken him a very long time to find a spot where he could be a full time guy.

And I. Yeah, I think that is an interesting dynamic for them to connect over and as we've talked about, which is, you know, I mean, it's. It's nebulous in that, you know, it's harder to identify when, you know, when this person matters or when this person doesn't or this person matters, but is it actually helpful versus this person matters, but is maybe, you know, giving guidance that might not be ultimately that helpful.

You know, Carlos Santana was the person that has been talked about a lot of, like, this is someone Julio trained with and, you know, grew up watching and, you know, having. Having real sort of not necessarily idolization, but. But this genuine respect for. And I like the older brother framing is that, like, you know, some of the other people, Suarez and Santana have been, and, I mean, JP as well, you know, they're there. They have been around longer and are more established to the point where it is, I think, maybe a little bit of a different nature than someone like Rojas, who has really been clawing for his spot for a long time. And now I think, you know, can both be that supportive person and hold. Hold Julio accountable, because nothing is no part of, you know, if Joe, Josh Rojas has a bad month, it could disappear. You know, it could really go away. If Josh Rojas had a month or two like Julio had, he is not getting the same benefit of the doubt.

So, you know, the, sort of the. The tenuous nature there, I think, is. Is good for him to be around and see that develop.

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John Trupin
In terms of where the rest of the roster is at right now, I'm curious from the two of you's perspective, it's felt a little bit like, especially with some of the folks coming off of the Il now, Wu is obviously back. It feels like the roster is stabilizing in a way that it's not thrilling, but because if the Mariners were 24 and 21 and, you know, they were four or five games behind the Astros, I think we'd be really frustrated.

But the Mariners are 24 and 21, and the rest of the American League west stinks, or at least has stunned, has stuck.

You know, obviously Houston's climbing back out as we, as we.

Speaker C
Oh, yeah. I think, I think Houston is fully the, you know, what's that wrestling gift that the sitting up undertaker? Whatever.

Yeah, they're fully, fully doing that. I was really hoping the brewers would give them more of a challenge, but it seems like the Houston juggernaut Bregman seems to have found it.

You knew they weren't going to stay down for long. You know, you knew that they were going to come. I am surprised by the Ranger, the Rangers spate of struggles currently because I knew that they were, like on a little shaky ground. I didn't realize they were on getting swept by the Rockies. Shaky ground.

John Trupin
Yeah.

Oh, man.

It is.

Kate Preusser
That was, they got blown out by.

Speaker C
The Angels last night. Like, what are you doing, Texas?

Kate Preusser
Their pitching might be as bad as any pitching in the entire league. Like, they legitimately may fall apart because of that in a way that they weren't capable of last year, and their offense is still elite, but they're just, they're just bleeding too much. You know what I mean? When you look at the box scores from their games, they're giving up too many runs. The starters are all getting blown out early. It's like, it's not tenable for them to be a consistently competitive team if three nights a week their starters are getting blown out. Right. They're almost like the reverse Mariners. The Mariners are always in it because their starters are always in it. Texas just keeps getting blown out and then trying to win blowouts with more offense, not work. And if you look at the run differential for Texas, it being so close to the Mariners gives me a lot of optimism because they can't pull away from us right now. You know what I mean? Like, it's just they don't have the stability in place with the pitching and the defense to make a run like they did last year. And if we're hanging in there, I'll take our odds. I really like the way we sit.

John Trupin
The Texas sort of floundering is a huge, huge relief. But I do think it also, it makes me very curious, looking forward, what this, like, what, what are the Mariners going to do this summer? Because it is, I think if, if this is basically what it looks like, and that's a huge if. If it looks roughly like this in a month, then the Mariners are, I think, in the strongest position for themselves to be aggressive buyers at the deadline that they've had in, in depot's time, certainly, and I think since 2014, at least probably beyond just because this is the closest, this is the most that the division has actually been. Yeah, obviously, like, right. You know, obviously last year it ended up being in reach, but, you know, say what you will about, you know, the, the seawall trade, and many of us have, but I think there was a good reason to think this team is not really within striking distance. They, and they are, they have yo yo'd back and forth. This team, I certainly wouldn't say has been brilliantly, but it hasn't. It has kind of looked like, yeah, they're sort of doing what you would expect, and either it works or it doesn't each night, and I don't.

Speaker C
This team hasn't gotten into the early hole that last year's, like, last year's team, it felt like they were going nowhere and they dug themselves a hole at the beginning of the season they couldn't later get out of. This year, we have sort of the opposite thing where it's the Astros who dug themselves the hole and then they're going to make a run at it, and they are already starting to. So I think, like, the next few weeks are pretty key in determining what the Mariners do because this road trip, I think, could really, really wind up being disastrous, monstrous. It is absolutely punishing to play Baltimore and New York back to back. It's punishing to have it be a four game series. And it's even more punishing that when they're done with all this, they still have to go to Washington and play, you know, not exactly a rollover squad in the Nationals, not as hard as the other two, but this is, this road trip could really, really, really damage them. I see a possibility where they get swept, swept by Baltimore.

I see a possibility where they only win one game in New York, and a lot of that has to do with their health and, you know, continued struggles offensively. I'm not ready to look forward. I'm not ready to look forward to the trade deadline yet is what I'm saying. I think we are in dangerous waters right now with this current road trip, and the Astros just surging up out of nowhere. Not out of nowhere. They, we all knew that they were sleeping enemies, but it seems like they are going on a real tear right now.

Kate Preusser
The flip side of this, though, is that if they do play well, and especially if, you know, the Orioles and the Yankees have some of the most elite offense in the sport right now, especially the Yankees. Like, my God, that lineup, oh, my God, they needed a resurgent Giancarlo Stanton on top of everything else they got going on this year. You know, just in, just in case they didn't feel like they had enough riches.

But if our pitching does well in these matchups, I'm going to feel really good about this summer and about their chances going forward, because so much of last year was, they don't look very good against good competition. Well, they've looked decent against good competition this year. They, you know, they took a series in Texas. They beat Atlanta.

They, the possibility exists for their pitching to look like the best in the league and be elite and cover some of those deficiencies in the offense over this next stretch. And if they do that, how do you not have a lot of faith in them? You know what I mean? Like, if they win any of these series and if even they split it, I feel really good about their chances going forward. And New York is just so good. I'm looking at the Yankees fan grass page. Like, my God.

Speaker C
I mean, they get the benefit of playing in Yankee Stadium, which I think is something, I actually like Baltimore's lineup better. I think it's more dynamic and more consistent, and also they play in a more difficult park.

The Yankees, I think, really do benefit from getting to play their home games in Yankee Stadium. And I don't know. I mean, that's, to me, that's the most interesting story. I'm very surprised by Toronto's collapse. I really thought that that was, is it fair to say they're, I don't.

Kate Preusser
Know if I would say they've collapsed. Like, they haven't played well so far, but, like, same way we're talking about Houston and Astros. Like, check, check back in a month and let's see, because I'm not convinced they're cooked.

John Trupin
I will say they have played. I'm not convinced they're cooked, but I do think they have played much worse than both I expected. And I think then Houston, in part because, you know, they're, they're in the AL east, but also, like, they are getting the brakes beaten off of them night in, night. Not night in, night out. I mean, they're only five games under.

Speaker C
They almost got perfect last night.

John Trupin
Yeah, they, they are getting lacked like, they are what they got a -48 run differential, which is the, the only team worse than that in the AL is the A's and the old only. I think two teams are worse than that in the NL and it's the Rockies and the Marlins. Yeah, exactly.

You know, like when you are.

I'm sorry, I.

This is an oversight by me. They are third because I did, like most fans of Chicago baseball, either forget or just sort of put a block over the idea that the White Sox exist. So I do apologize. They are, they're not that. The White Sox are a true catastrophe. And I did miss because I was going to, like, throw a little celebration when they got to double digit wins, which again, I have no loathing for the White Sox. It is purely astonishing how bad they are right now. I honestly quite like the White Sox generally as an organization. Well, no, no, you don't. I like, I like, I like watching, I like watching their team play. I like watching their team play the organization. Jerry Reinsdorf, whatever. Hot mess. Screw them. But that's, that's not an indictment of White Sox generally.

Speaker C
No. Free.

John Trupin
Yes.

Speaker C
I do not remember just that. I really thought that at least was going to be a three team race.

I saw, and instead it's just Baltimore and the Yankees killing each other and.

Kate Preusser
Pitching their faces off.

Speaker C
When did that weird.

I don't, I don't know how sustainable that is, but it is. I mean, credit to them because that, and that shows how quickly you can turn around. Like, they were pretty bad.

Yeah.

John Trupin
So, yeah, they've got a couple that are nice.

Speaker C
It's boring. It's so boring. I think when the AOE, you, East is, like, the best division in baseball, but I think it's hard for me to give that. I mean, obviously the Phillies.

No, I think the least is the best division in baseball. What do you think, john?

John Trupin
Oh, yeah. Okay.

I would agree.

Speaker C
I just want to make sure I don't have any, like, implicit NL bias that is preventing me for.

John Trupin
Because, no, the NL east has two excellent teams.

The NL west has one excellent team, and then three teams that don't really just have just take turns like the fates being an excellent team. And then the Rockies just kind of lie face down. They're like an upturned turtle.

Kate Preusser
I think the NLE would be a lot more intimidating if the giants hadn't imploded into dust already.

John Trupin
Yeah.

Kate Preusser
Speaking of which, Zhong Huli. Like, oh, my God, that was excruciating to watch. And I just feel so bad for Giants fans because, like, yeah, that's the one thing they had.

Speaker C
Yeah. It's their one fun thing, and it got broken.

You know, so far, we've been lucky. Mariners fans have been lucky this year in general. How. I mean, obviously, Brian Wu, Matt Brash was a huge blow and very sad. And actually, I have bullpen concerns. That is, one of my lingering clouds over this team is the bullpen is not very good, and which is a weird thing to say about a Mariners team in this day and age because we're so used to excellent bullpens, but.

Kate Preusser
I feel they've been not good, but also, like, not the problem, just the way the team has played. I can't place a whole lot of games where specifically, I feel like the bullpen blew it for him.

Speaker C
No, you don't see the bullpen blowing it. But I will say that I don't feel a ton of confidence when, I mean, Thornton has been solid.

John Trupin
Thornton has also been very pressed.

Speaker C
Yes.

John Trupin
I think he's leading the team in.

Speaker C
Gamespin pitched, which, yeah, they, they sure like to push that button for him. Um, you know, obviously, munoz, there are some concerns about him being overworked, uh, which I think are, uh, I think are valid. I think also, like, it's very dumb to equate. Well, Matt Brash was over your work last year, and he got a UCL injury, so that will happen, too. Like, please stop pretending like you know how elbows work. No one knows how opposed work. It's ghosts in there. Like, that is just as valid as anything else. There are so many things that cannot be seen on imaging that cannot be known.

It's. Some guys just go forever on the one a UCL.

Others need to reconstructions that are fine.

Kate Preusser
Somebody have ghost shoulder last year. I feel like this is a phrase we've said on this podcast before.

Speaker C
Somebody had ghost shoulders.

Kate Preusser
We definitely said this last.

Speaker C
We've definitely talked about the Sog.

I don't know, the soggy arm.

I do think overuse is a concern. I would just really caution people against, like, trying to play doctor at all in any way, shape or form, and especially about the elbow made of magic and wizards.

Anyway, I am concerned about the bullpen depth. I'm really interested in the idea of Logan evans coming up as a bullpen arm.

I am also nervous because, you know, that's a fun thing and obviously it's been a while since we had a pitching prospect and specifically a pitching relief prospect, but that's a big ask and it's, that's a guy with not a ton of innings behind him. So it, it's, uh, it's not the ideal plan.

But I wonder at what point the stress that's placed on the bullpen. Plus, you know, Santos, I don't know when we're going to see him or.

John Trupin
If we got something relatively recently on him, didn't we?

Kate Preusser
Yeah, I mean, he's back up to throwing full bullpens now. He's no longer restricted. But that's not an endorsement for. Oh, we're going to send him out on a rehab assignment next week. Like, it's still kind of tentative.

Speaker C
Yeah, yeah. No, I mean, the last I got as a timeline was July, and that was pushed back because. And basically they called him back from the complex at Arizona so he could rehab with the team just to give him like a change of scenery or something and see if they could maybe hasten things along perhaps with more direct supervision. But it. I don't feel like it's super. I'm not counting on that. So kind of what we've got is what we've got. There's a lot of talk about the arms at Tacoma. They have, and I, again, PCL, but no one down there, I feel like, because I'm watching to see if anyone is, like, really starting to separate themselves from the back. Not so much.

They lost Tyson Miller, which was unfortunately kind of unavoidable because he was out of options. So as soon as they promoted him, they knew that when they dfA'd him, they would be losing him.

They got Jake Slaughter, which I think is like, about as good as they could do. As far as a trade goes, I like Jake Slaughter.

Kate Preusser
Pretty sweet name.

Speaker C
Sure.

I can't have too many corner infielders, so, like, oops. All corner infielders, I guess. But yeah, there's no one down there who I think of as like, immediately relief.

You go down to Arkansas.

Some guys with some inconsistencies down there, too. It's. Oh, I don't know.

John Trupin
McDougal bats. McDougal bats is a bend, Oregon based baseball and softball bats company, family owned. They are big Mariners fans, and they build baseball bats and softball bats that are fantastic to use for your own league if you have kids that are getting into their seasons now, I think we're in at this point, you know, we are approaching summer ball. I know, at least in the Seattle area, we're, we're sort of in the midst of the high school seasons and middle school seasons. But if you have woodbat leagues, those typically get started around Memorial Day. At least for baseball, I think it is very worthwhile. One of the big perks on a McDougall bat is that they have a longer sweet spot and they are designed to last for really as long as you keep swinging that bat. Though they are not a composite bat, they essentially are incredibly sturdy. They are not liable to break on you. I actually have now a McDougal bat that I am excited to be cracking open this coming weekend, getting into games. So I am. I'm excited to track my stats here. If you go to McDougall bats, that's macdougall bats.com and order a bat. If you use the discount code, go M s, that's goms, you will get $15 off your order and we will be very pleased. We'll get a little extra bonus from that as well. So go check them out.

I want to even, you know, put on Evans because I think, you know, you mentioned, like, it's been a while since the Mariners have really had a relief prospect.

The closest was Matt Brash, who, you know, obviously debuted as a starter but was pretty quickly shifted to a bullpen rule.

Matt Brash was striking out over a third of the hitters that he was facing in Arkansas. Matt Brash was borderline unhittable as AAA pitcher, and Logan Evans is so far had very good results and he has good Velo and he's got good breaking ball. But Matt Brash and Logan Evans are not really in the same category. Right. Logan Evans was striking out, is striking out 20%. You know, he's striking out a below average rate of hitters. Now he gets a bunch of downward movement on, on his pitches, and so he gets a lot of ground balls so that, you know, that type of pitcher is often more inclined towards contact, and that's great. You can be a very effective ground ball reliever. Instead, it's not all about strikeouts, but by and large, the expectations there, because the Mariners last batch of pitching prospects have been so remarkable with Miller and brash and Wu that have all been immediate, high quality contributors, and even Hancock has been solid. But, like, that's, you know, the, the expectations there, I think should be hoped for as Hancock level more than Wu Miller level or in a bullpen role. You know, he certainly could be an excellent reliever, especially because he's pitching, you know, as a starter right now, he might see even more spike, but that's, that's just, I think, an important framework to keep in mind there for the.

Kate Preusser
Mariners and their depth, too.

There's a real advantage to keeping him as a starting pitcher because literally the only other guy they have is Emerson Hancock. They're like a sore shoulder away from.

Who even do we have in Triple A, Asher Wojczakowski or Darren Macaquen? Like, we don't want that.

Speaker C
So we don't have any of those guys anymore. I don't think maybe for the best.

Kate Preusser
Point remains.

Speaker C
Yeah, Jonathan Diaz, who has been cromulant in Tacoma more or less so these days, but, you know, PCL, etcetera.

Kate Preusser
Is Taylor Dollard still, like, for him to be playing and he's not. So.

Speaker C
Yeah, still rehabbing.

The thing with Matt Brash is Matt Brash had a wizard pitch, which was the slider, and Logan Evans doesn't have that so much. So I do think, like, his value is largely in keeping him as a starter, and his value might be in trade when people start to open up, you know, because that's still that, and I think that there's a certain cache that is attached to being a Mariners pitching prospect. Evans is a little bit of a prospect, darling. He's gotten a lot of attention recently, like, oh, the Mariners do it? Are they doing it again?

I think that there's something valuable to keeping him as a starter and hoping you can swap him for a reliever who is maybe able to be utilized in the bigs sooner rather than later. That I think that is the most efficient use of personnel. But there is internal buzzing about the possibility of bringing him up. But I agree with you, John. Like, I don't, I would not expect, like, a matt brash level.

A ground baller is still super valuable. I miss Justin Topa all the time.

John Trupin
Hey, Kate.

Speaker C
Mm hmm.

John Trupin
What's up with Carlos Vargas?

Speaker C
What is up with Carlos Vargas?

He does not know where the plate is located.

Kate Preusser
So that Johan Ramirez syndrome.

John Trupin
But. But he's also not striking anyone out anymore.

Speaker C
No, no.

I think that they're trying to get him onto the plate, but, yeah. It turns out that, like, when he gets on the plate, he's hit a bull. I'm not exactly sure.

John Trupin
Okay.

Speaker C
I had really?

John Trupin
Yeah. I don't need too much more depth than that. I just. It is, you know, go. You kind of go through the rainiers. I think it's the point. The point that we've been making. You go through the Rainiers roster right now, and there's a lot of.

A lot of cause for the mariners to look externally, I guess, if they're going for improvement.

Speaker C
I mean, there are guys who throw really hard. Jordan Holloway throws hard. Brett de gust throws hard. Degas has command issues that he's got to, like, this is what frustrates. I want to go down and, like, have a real talking to with all the rainier relievers. Let's go down to that bullpen and, like, you know, flip a chair around backwards and sit on it and have a rap session.

John Trupin
Get.

Speaker C
There's a job out there for one of you. Somebody go get it. Like, there are jobs in this mariners role plan, which I don't think is necessarily something you would say all the time. And I do think Salcedo is going to be back soon, and Salcedo has been much better than I thought. He. I feel like Salcedo has taken a real step forward this year with his command, and his stuff just looks nastier to me. I think.

I'm very curious if he did anything in the offseason, tweaked anything, because it seems like he's having, like, last year, they deployed him a lot in mop up duty. This year, it feels like they trust him a little more, so I'm anxious to see him get back. I think it'll be soon. There's not even any, like, visible swelling on the leg. It's just probably strengthening it back up, and he's got a certain.

Kate Preusser
Hollander said he expects him to be back in the ten day minimum, so we should anticipate that. As far as Saucedo goes, we had a little bit of this last year where he was used as a specialist early on, and his numbers were really sterling. And then when he got a little more expensive, exposed to a more even handed split. It exposed him quite a bit. So I am kind of on the fence. Has he gotten better or just not seen enough for that to be exposed yet? I would like to think he's. He's been a little bit better, and the numbers certainly indicate at least a slight bump. But I agree with what you said. There's. There's open jobs in this bullpen. It feels like anybody could be good on every given day, but also not to. So come and take them.

Speaker C
Like, there's no.

There's no Justin Topa. Like, there's no person who I feel like is just. You can roll them out and it's like, whoo. Okay. Yes. That is. I feel secure about that.

Thornton seems to have earned a lot of trust.

They seem to really like Cody Bolton, who I'm not, like, totally comfortable with yet.

Who's the. Oh, Austin Voth. I think Vaath is starting to fade for me a little bit as far as his effect isn't. Like, I just. I don't feel like any of those guys have earned complete trust, and I think they're, like, still honestly kind of figuring out. That's why you see them being deployed in, like, these middle. You know, the game is close, but it's maybe not totally out of reach yet. And then Bizarro is currently the mop up guy.

Did it. Did heroes. Heroes work last night cleaning up that game so Josh Rojas didn't have to pitch?

Yeah, I just. Maybe that comes from the staff. Somebody takes a step forward. Maybe that comes from Tacoma, maybe that comes externally. But I have concerns about this bullpen. I don't think that they necessarily give it up, you know, like, blow leads just because they haven't often.

They aren't always given a lot of lead to blow, but they.

They don't always tamp down the bleeding in the way that you. Not that I.

This offense has, like, really showed that they're super capable of climbing back into it late, but they have not helped the offense out. What. That's what you saw last night was like.

They just didn't tamp things down effectively to keep that game close. And, yeah, I have concerns.

Kate Preusser
The bullpen feels like a mirage because we either shut somebody out and we were gonna win the whole time if it felt definitive, or it's last night and we get rocked and there just feels like there's no chance. And so, you know, like I said, it doesn't feel like the bullpen has cost them a specific game, but I agree with you. And then it feels like we're kind of, we're walking a bit of a tightrope there, you know what I mean? Where like, they haven't actually pitched well, but the results have been okay, but you don't want to push that. And me and losing Maprash is just so hard and not getting anything from Santos up until this point. I wonder if they would have done, I wonder what they would have done differently if they would have known this was the outcome, you know what I mean? Because so much of this team was predicated on we're going to have three of the best bullpen arms in the game, plus spire, and essentially none of that's materialized. And they've been good anyways. So like, you know, props to the plan. Had it worked out, they'd be even better. But yeah, they're kind of stuck right now as far as the bullpen goes.

John Trupin
The bullpen is, I mean, ultimately just more average.

It just can't weather losing Munoz at this point, at least until Santos gets back.

And I don't know what they would do differently because I don't think I do stand by their general policy of not spending a bunch of money on relief pitchers. I think that's good.

Kate Preusser
Especially they spent on Santos. Like, that was a totally reasonable cost, even though we got nothing from him.

Speaker C
Laughs in Josh HADER right, right.

John Trupin
You know, well, and even then it's like, you know, like, I mean, certainly several of the major relievers of the, you know, hater and then Tyler, Steve, like, not Tyler Stevenson, Robert Stevenson, you know, a number of the big relievers haven't worked, worked out all that well, but it just like what the Mariners would then refuse to do elsewhere on their roster would make it particularly laughable. And if they were scoring more, the bullpen wouldn't be as much of an issue. Now, I know you can say that at any point in time, but like that's, that's sort of what the, what the, you know, I, that is, I think like, like we were saying, where more of the consequence lies, build leads, then worry about keeping them. And because the rotation is so consistent, you're usually, when you're actually winning, only needing to cover two or three innings like the, at most. And, and that's relatively easy to do in a winning situation, whereas, you know, where you can use spire and, and Stanik and Munoz if needed, you know, and that'll, that'll be okay there.

I did want to touch on two more things here, and then I think we are going to wrap up.

Number one is, I was curious about our earlier discussion about last year, because part of what's sort of funny about this is like, it felt so bad and so frustrating last year.

Are the mariners to be so inconsistent, but they're not. Like, they're not, in any dramatic way, that much more consistent? Well, maybe they're more consistent, but I can't put my finger on what is more consistent about them this year. That is less frustrating, other than the other teams in the league are just worse that Texas doesn't have a ten game lead on them.

And what I'm looking at right now is where the Mariners were at through 45 games last year, and it's pretty much that they were there 24 and 21 right now.

Last year, they were 22 and 23.

They had a. They have a plus three run differential right now.

They had a plus 19 run differential last year.

You know, they'd scored 30 more runs, and they'd given up 14 more.

Speaker C
I feel like last year. I feel like that difference can be attributed to. Julio was not in this bad of a slump last year at this time. He had come out of his slump already, if I recall correctly.

Kate Preusser
Partially, but, yes, he had started coming out of it.

John Trupin
Yeah, I think that additionally, I mean, the big thing that I'm looking at here is Texas was 28 and 17, and Houston was 26 and 19, and even the Angels were above 500.

Speaker C
Oh, yeah.

Kate Preusser
You know, that was fun.

John Trupin
Oakland had ten wins, but, you know, it was.

It was absolutely, I think, a more.

It had just ultimately much more to do with how the rest of the league was doing, which is.

I don't want to be dismissive, but, like, that's ultimately just kind of what is making this year work out better, and it's an opportunity for the Mariners to build on things. Last year, by the way, through 45 games, Julio had an 88 WRC plus, which is actually worse than he is at right now.

He may have been on the upswing more in May because I think his April was so rough, but he was worse at this stage last year than he has been this year.

Although he had seven homers instead of two. She probably also felt better.

And, you know, so I guess that's. That's where I'm looking ahead now is like, the Mariners haven't really done that much with the situation, but because they've been able to, you know, avoid the giant potholes that have sucked in Texas and Houston. And, I mean, pothole doesn't begin to describe the angels, who, since at least I've last been on here, I know that, you know, it's we've had some other pods, but had a game that they basically lost because they called a bases loaded suicide squeeze where their players were the failed squeeze bunter missed the bunt on a pitch in the other batter's box and was thrown under the bus by his manager.

They have had one of their longest tenured players who they signed to an extension and then have subsequently demoted and was, like, throwing knuckle balls in a game in AAA last week, has been accused of using the same gambler that Ipe Shohei Ohtani's translator was using to bet on sports.

Not clear, necessarily, whether it was baseball.

And they are in last place behind the a's.

Speaker C
Amazing.

Just unthinkable, unthinkable levels of clown chisery.

John Trupin
They are. Yeah. They are.

Los Angeles Angels of over.

Speaker C
Los Angeles Angels. If it's so over, yes.

John Trupin
I mean, good grief, what a state of affairs.

Kate Preusser
Do you remember about two weeks from now, a year ago, was when the Mariners. Jerry specifically did that very infamous press conference where he talked about the Mariners being a disappointment and the team needing to kind of, like, reevaluate some stuff.

Never underestimate the power of good vibes, because not only are we not doing any of that this year, but everybody else in our division seemingly is, and it's costing them. And you're right, we're not really playing meaningfully better than we did last year. But it's counting for more because they've eliminated some of the distractions. They're not doing some of the stupid stuff. They're not.

Winning covers so many ills. Right? Like, winning just. It covers all ills, and. And they're winning. And so I think, psychologically, this team is in a much better position, and they're not. Some of that is simple. Some of it's Jared not being here to kick a cooler. Some of it is Josh Rojas being, you know, just much more of a consistent human being. But I really do feel good vibes about this team and about where they sit right now. Even if it's not like you said, they're only like, what? Plus three run differential. This is not an endorsement of a team that is a juggernaut. But things are going our way, and it's hard not to like it.

Speaker C
I feel like it's such a wheel of fortune thing. Like, you're up one day again. I'm looking at this road trip. I'm seeing the possibility that things start to go south and without, like, a solid foundation. Although I will say I have been more pleased with the quality of at bats lately. They are swinging at strikes, they are working counts. They are stringing together like they're hitting balls hard, which I think is always, you know, you see, a lot of times they don't get results out of that, but they stung a lot of balls last night just kind of directly at people. And, you know, if you're doing that, if you're putting the ball in play, good things will happen. A lot of it is kind of luck based.

I think a lot of the good vibes this year are, first of all, last year, because they were a playoff team and the expectations were so high and it was so fun. There was so much excitement coming into the season, and then they kind of laid an egg at the start of 2023, and that felt bad and everything that fans were kind of screaming for the team to do that offseason, spend money, get better, improve.

Instead, the Angels did, or the Rangers did.

And as the Rangers were, I don't. The Rangers weren't totally in their full form in 2022. In 2023, you really saw that come home to roost. You know, that lineup became very formidable, and it was like, oh, no, they have all this young talent.

We brought up a lot of their prospects. They are, they established themselves as a force in the AL west. At the same time the Mariners were.

It was feeling like maybe there was going to be one little playoff appearance, and that was. And then back to your corner, and I think just now we're kind of more, fans are more inured to it. Like, you've seen this offense struggle to score runs. You know what this team is going to do. They're not going to go out and buy high priced free agents. Like, what you get is what you get. And it's, there's more of a place of acceptance this year, I think, with a, with a lot of fans. The ones who did come back, I don't know how many said, you're not getting my money for season tickets, and just didn't do that. The attendance at the park has been strong and I think even up. So again, winning covers a lot of applause.

John Trupin
It is up through this stretch, like, period of time per night compared to last year and certainly during the summer is when, like, the numbers really fill out.

Speaker C
But, like, yeah, they've also been really smart marketing wise, I think, to do giveaways, not necessarily always on weekends, but, like, I think the Julio bobblehead or the Griffey, I can't remember. One of the bobblehead nights was, I think it was the Julio bobblehead was like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and it was 10,000 each time or something, rather than like 30,000 all at once.

So just finding ways to get people into the park on off days or days that would be lesser attended has been successful.

But yeah, I think that the vibes, the team is not necessarily. Necessarily better, but for a variety of factors, the, the team is not markedly better, but the rest of the division is worse. And fans are a little more used to this product on the field.

John Trupin
We are getting a real quintessential. If you just win 54% of your games all the time, sometimes that's enough demonstration. Now that's keep, keep Houston in your rearview because that they are, you know, thus far, for eight straight years, they have proven why that isn't sufficient.

And this is for seven years, basically, they've proven why that isn't sufficient. But, you know, this, this at least they've, they've got a head start to try and keep them down here. So.

Well, let's, let's head out on a, on a broader baseball question, because we were talking a little bit about this before. And if you are.

If you've been reading anything about baseball or watching anything about baseball much beyond the Mariners, probably one of the major things you have been hearing about in the past week or two is Paul Skienes.

Paul Skeens, the number one pitching prospect in baseball, debuted for the Pittsburgh Pirates and had a very impressive, you know, had a very interesting start. In his second start, he. What was it? He struck out. He had like the most strikeouts in a row for a rookie. It was, it was some like, it was some like kind of niche thing, but it really was just 100 miles.

Kate Preusser
He struck out the first seven Cubs, which is a record for a rookie in eleven overall.

John Trupin
Thank you, Evan. Yes, that. So I am curious for, for the two of you who have watched plenty o baseball, what the most impressive pitching debut is that you personally have seen?

Kate Preusser
I don't know if this was a debut, but when you asked this question prior to the pod, the answer that immediately came to my mind was Felix in Boston against Dice K. Because that was a national, even international event. Because Dice K. Obviously at that point was so heralded. It's the big coming, the next big thing from Japan, potentially one of the best pitchers in all baseball in the world. And Felix showed him up. And that was not the first time or the only time. And it would be a pattern that Felix was the better pitcher. And it felt good. It felt like one of those moments where the world was jealous of what we had, and we don't get that very often.

John Trupin
Absolutely.

Kate, what about you?

Speaker C
Um, I mean, they're all sort of mariners focused ones. Like, I remember telling Taiwan Walker's debut just because I was so excited for it, and it was the first night.

John Trupin
Absolutely.

This is most memorable for you. This is not. Oh, the best.

Speaker C
Yeah. I mean, I think that was great.

Yeah, that. That one, probably. Or Logan Gilbert's debut, which wasn't, like, sparkling or anything, but that was the first time that a player that I had watched be drafted, done, like, extensive writing about, followed his minor league career really carefully known as a prospect, and then, you know, got to see that.

John Trupin
Become, like, a top 100 prospect. Like, had become, like, a big deal prospect, too.

Speaker C
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that, too, as well. So I think, like, that one, just for pure excitement sake, even though I don't remember it being, like, super awesome. I think he gave up, like, four runs or something, but actually, that was just one of the stay in Mariners history, was Logan Gilbert made his debut. Jared Kelnick made his debut same day, and Paul Seawald was also reactivated to the big.

John Trupin
Made his Mariners debut.

Speaker C
Yeah, exactly.

Kate Preusser
That was the biggest transaction of the year. Remember, we did it after the year was over. We looked back, and we're wondering what was the biggest move they made that year. And it was. It was that day specifically.

Speaker C
Yeah.

Calling up all their young, spry prospects from Triple A.

So, yeah, probably. I mean, it's recency bias, I guess.

I do remember how it felt to watch Taiwan Walker and just be like. But definitely a lot more, like, personal significance in watching Gilbert's debut and somebody who I and have continued to love watching pitch every time. Like, I will. I will do anything. I hate missing a Logan Gilbert start. I missed the one that he threw in.

Was it when he. When did he shut out the Astros? Five? Nothing.

When was he?

John Trupin
That could be.

Speaker C
When was that start? I missed that one. I was off grid for the day and came back and I was like, oh, of course I. Of course I missed that.

But, yeah, I will do anything to see Logan. I will always give a Logan Gilbert start preference over watching any other starter, even Kirby. Like, he is my favorite. He is my favorite pitcher to watch pitch.

Kate Preusser
That's fair.

John Trupin
Yeah.

Speaker C
Although Bryce Miller is rocking it up there. I have to say, I. Yeah, I.

Kate Preusser
Was gonna say my option B would be Bryce Miller's debut. Didn't he strike out ten in his debut? Am I hallucinating that?

Speaker C
No.

Did he not six.

He was in Oakland.

John Trupin
What did he do now? Now this is. This is everyone's favorite googling stats. No, you're absolutely right. He struck out ten in Oakland. You are absolutely.

Kate Preusser
And it was a perfect game into the 6th inning. So, yeah, that's. That's up there as far as debuts go.

John Trupin
Yeah, no, that is. That is spectacular because I remember feeling.

Speaker C
Very bad that we were talking about Bryce Miller having like, a soft landing in the, in the bigs, and then Oakland obliged by performing basically like, AAAA team.

John Trupin
We love it.

Speaker C
Aaa. Mm hmm. Yeah.

John Trupin
Some number of a's.

Speaker C
I think AAA might have given Bryce Miller more trouble.

John Trupin
Honestly, there's only one a's in athletics.

Speaker C
Oh, my gosh.

John Trupin
My answer is Roanis alias, which I did allude to, which, you know, the infamous Sean barber.

Speaker C
Sean Barber. You should never know. And you should never know an umpire's name. Should never know an umbrella's name.

John Trupin
But I will turn it from that frustration to say, you know, sort of in the. In the vein of Felix Dice K. That. That same rookie year, his, his complete game shut out against the Tigers, where he out dueled Max Scherzer, who wasn't quite fully Max Scherzer, but like, was Max Scherzer, you know, was. Was already a.

All star, had led the league in, you know, I think he led the league in wins the last two years and was like one of the best pitchers in baseball already. And not only did the Mariners, like, put up a few runs on him, but, you know, Rowenis absolutely just was spectacular against the team that won the, you know, one, their division and had just come off going to the ALCS, you know, the year before. I mean, just a really, really good roster. I felt really, like, so psyched that, like, oh, this, this guy, this guy might be something here, and he was something he was not, you know, quite that same pitcher, obviously, but I loved that feeling of this player. I didn't have that much expectation for, but have a little bit of hope for actually building on it. That's always one of the most exciting things as a fan, as a prospect person in any capacity, seeing that come together.

Speaker C
Well, Ennis Elias is still pitching. I just looked him up. He is in the KBO for the SSG Landers.

Kate Preusser
Good for him.

John Trupin
Yeah, indeed.

Well, I hope that all of you continue to find, can find the SSG landers in your life that continue to allow you to pursue the thing you love.

That's right. It's a wholesome finish for this episode of meeting us at the Mitt.

Thank you to McDougal bats for being our stalwart supporter. Go check out McDougal bats. Use the link in the episode description to get yourself discount on a nice new baseball bat.

They are spectacular products. I have mine within arms reach for any time a pitch might come down the hallway of my one bedroom apartment.

Thank you to Evan, thank you to Kate. Thank you to everyone for listening and tuning in.

We will talk to you again soon.

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Okay, round two. Name something that's not boring.

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Heavy Weighs the Crown - Can The Mariners Extend Their Lead in the West? Meet at the Mitt Podcast

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