0:00

Hey, it's Mike Salk here. Just want to

0:02

say thanks for listening to the Brock and

0:04

Salk podcast. Good to have you here. This

0:06

episode brought to you by Ascend Prime Steak

0:09

and Sushi, a contemporary steak and sushi house

0:11

with a one of a kind view in

0:13

downtown Bellevue. Check them out online at ascendprime.com.

0:17

Give me the freaking auto! This

0:19

is Brock and Salk. Brock Eward

0:21

and Mark Mat Martiss. Sorry about

0:23

my mic. On

0:26

Seattle Sports. Power through the Alaska

0:28

Airline Studio. Eward, not exactly Joe

0:31

Cap there in the pocket. Presented

0:33

by Simply Seattle. Now here are

0:35

your hosts, Brock Eward and Mike

0:37

Salk. All right,

0:39

let's go. Brock and Salk show Seattle Sports

0:42

on 710sealsports.com and the

0:44

Seattle Sports app. Plus, of course, all

0:46

the podcast platforms out there, wherever you

0:48

get our podcasts. We appreciate it. Download

0:51

it. Subscribe. Make sure you listen to

0:53

Jeff Passen from yesterday. Scott Servitz from

0:55

yesterday. We've got some good

0:57

stuff coming up today with Scott Van Pelt.

0:59

Going to join us from Augusta at 730

1:02

and Bruce Feldman at 930 on his latest

1:04

mock draft. So a lot of fun things.

1:06

Unfortunately, I've got to start the show by

1:08

asking you guys this question. Is

1:12

it OK if we just

1:14

rerun shows every day? Now, I

1:17

know that it's 630 every day. We do

1:19

play you guys a replay. Now that is the

1:21

Brock and Salk replay. We do it

1:23

on purpose. We're looking to help out a

1:26

group of people that may have missed

1:28

the best interview that we did the

1:30

day before. So, you know, we

1:32

do it early in the morning and that's

1:34

sort of part of our show. We've built

1:36

that in on purpose to try to, you

1:38

know, maximize our ability to let you guys

1:41

hear what we do. How

1:43

would you feel if we just ran the same

1:45

show every day? And the reason

1:47

I ask is that it appears the Mariners are

1:49

doing that. They're just

1:51

playing the same damn game

1:53

every freaking day for 12

1:56

games now. They're just rolling out the

1:58

same game. I don't just... mean the

2:00

same players, I mean they're literally

2:02

playing the same game. The same

2:04

lousy offense, the same crappy pitching, and

2:06

the same defense that nobody should ever

2:09

have to watch. Why are

2:11

they just playing the same game every day? At

2:13

least find new and different and creative ways to

2:15

lose. Don't keep doing the

2:17

same thing every day. This

2:19

is the same show. It's

2:21

bizarre. Usually, that's the definition of

2:23

insanity, but it sounds like it's driving you

2:26

insane. It is driving me a little insane.

2:28

I mean again, glad the game was over

2:30

early yesterday. Nice to see them

2:32

hit a couple home runs at the end of

2:34

the game and make it interesting just like they

2:36

did the day before when they at least brought

2:38

the tying run to the plate in the ninth.

2:40

I hope all you anti-strikeout people are psyched that

2:42

Josh Rojas put that ball in play there in

2:44

the ninth inning. Didn't that work out great? Too

2:46

bad he didn't strike out. They might have had

2:48

another shot with the top of the order coming

2:50

up, but he hit into a double play, so

2:52

you anti-strikeout people can raise your hands and glee

2:54

that at least he didn't strike out in that moment.

2:56

There was a lot of double plays yesterday. I know.

2:59

There sure were. Yeah. Hit

3:01

the ball and play. Really good to see. This

3:05

is really frustrating, and everyone's

3:08

going to kind of choose their own thing

3:10

to be frustrated at. I

3:13

know there's a group that is frustrated with

3:15

the way the roster was constructed. There's

3:17

a group that is frustrated with the amount of

3:19

money spent on the team. There's

3:21

a group that is frustrated with the way

3:23

Scott is managing them. There's

3:25

a group that is frustrated with the hitting

3:28

and the hitters and the core and Julio

3:30

and the guys that aren't delivering up to

3:32

the level that you would expect them to.

3:35

There's a group that is frustrated with the pitching. By

3:39

the way, I'm frustrated with a lot of these things,

3:41

so I'm not saying I'm not part of any of

3:43

these groups. I think I'm kind of in and around

3:45

a lot of these groups. I am very frustrated with

3:47

the way this team has started and the way they're

3:50

playing, but nothing.

3:54

Nothing has gotten to me quite like the defense.

3:57

The defense that this team plays is

3:59

incredible. and he was incredibly aggravating. And,

4:02

you know, George Kirby's going to get a lot of

4:04

the grief yesterday, and he didn't pitch great. He

4:07

wasn't awesome. He

4:09

did give up, what, five runs in

4:11

three innings? Four innings, whatever it was. And credit

4:13

to the bullpen for keeping it close and at least giving him a

4:15

shot late in the game. He did

4:17

have a problem with foul balls. Justice

4:20

Castillo did the night before. Both

4:22

of them have had that problem all year long.

4:24

In Castillo's case, it's surprising because of the movement

4:26

he has on his pitches. In Kirby's case, maybe

4:28

less so because he is around the zone as

4:30

often as he is, and he does throw so

4:32

many fastballs. But, yeah,

4:35

their inability to put away hitters

4:37

is clearly hurting them at the

4:39

early part of this season. But

4:44

what in the world is

4:46

going on with Polanco's glove? It's

4:49

like it's got – what's that stuff, Flubber,

4:52

that's super bouncy? Oh, yeah,

4:54

I forgot about it. Is that Flubber? That's the

4:56

Robin Williams movie. Is that what it's called? Is

4:58

it Flubber that's like super bouncy? Anything that touches

5:00

it bounces really far away? I can't

5:02

say that I'm sure on that one. I don't either. I've

5:04

never seen the movie. I've never seen Flubber. And

5:07

it's old. Now, the word is perfect

5:09

for this exact situation because each of

5:11

these are flubs in their own way.

5:14

But it kind of looks at the moment as if

5:16

he's got like a

5:18

patch of Flubber right

5:20

in his glove. And every time the ball

5:23

comes near it, it just bounces away. I

5:25

don't know if it's in his head. If he's

5:27

got the yips – Feels yipsy. It feels at this

5:29

point yipsy. So he makes the error – It feels

5:31

like we were talking about that at second base last year.

5:35

No, yeah. I mean, look, Wong

5:37

had his issues, and I feel like his range

5:40

was obviously limited and his hitting was terrible. This

5:42

ball was – He was also like 5'2", but I

5:45

don't remember like – He had some horrendous defensive mess.

5:47

Maybe I forget about those. We had these conversations last

5:49

year. All right, I've forgotten about those. Well,

5:52

I don't know what to tell you. All I can tell you is

5:54

Polanco, last night he picks up the error, and then Kirby

5:56

bails him out by getting the double- play

6:00

ball to him by the way and

6:02

did you maybe it was me maybe I imagined it

6:04

I asked you guys I didn't hear back

6:07

from you he has just a brutal

6:09

I mean just just an error hit right at him

6:11

right and then Kirby gets him

6:13

the ground ball double play and it

6:15

seemed to me anyway as

6:17

if he paused for an extra

6:19

moment to like look the ball

6:21

all the way into the glove

6:24

stare at it take it out

6:26

very deliberately throw it over to

6:28

JP yeah I'd like make sure

6:30

it was done correctly I

6:32

also had a couple pop into my mind when they were

6:34

talking about the brand new turf that isn't bouncing as exactly

6:36

as the way that it is whenever man's there for a

6:39

year so I thought about that as an infielder it's like

6:41

you take a lot of hops off of these turf fields

6:43

you expect the same hops yeah pretty new and he had

6:45

the same problem in Seattle and he's had the same

6:47

problem in Milwaukee he's not a problem but

6:49

that's just that's something to give it to

6:51

my mind all I found myself thinking was

6:53

you know it seemed like he was like

6:56

looking that sucker into his glove and being

6:58

incredibly incredibly deliberate

7:01

and that one

7:03

obviously didn't end up hurting him all that much because

7:05

Kirby throws the ground ball double play and you move

7:07

on with your life but the

7:10

drop throw at second base when

7:12

when Cal has the runner thrown out the

7:15

costume two runs yeah they

7:17

lost by two runs that's

7:19

two runs it's not an error right because you can't

7:21

assume that he can catch the ball when it's thrown

7:23

to him like that so they'll call it an error

7:25

because baseball's ludicrous with

7:27

that silly of

7:30

all the silly things in baseball the

7:32

fact that that's not an error drives

7:34

me up the freaking wall good

7:38

major player makes that play ten times out of

7:40

ten he kicks it

7:42

he doesn't make the play guy safe

7:44

at second instead of being out they drive him in

7:47

then another guy scores with two outs guys

7:50

that's your ball game George Kirby

7:52

pitched well enough yesterday to have only

7:54

given up three runs instead of five

7:57

was he great no am I frustrated with

7:59

him Yes. Is he mad afterwards? Of

8:01

course. Was it a good offensive performance? No.

8:04

Are there lots of other things to be

8:06

mad about? Of course. Like I'm not glossing

8:08

over any of those things. But defense is

8:10

top of your list. This defense is freaking

8:13

killing them, man. And here's what's frustrating to

8:15

me about it. And

8:17

I am going to be very cautious

8:19

in saying this. But

8:21

every year you hear a complaint

8:23

that it feels like a team

8:25

is not playing hard when they're

8:27

not winning. And

8:30

I think I generally work as

8:32

hard as I can not

8:34

to agree with that take, even though it

8:36

appears that way. Because I have understood and

8:38

heard from I don't know how many people

8:40

in the game of baseball that

8:42

when you're not hitting, it looks like you're

8:44

not playing with any life. Totally get it. Totally

8:47

get it. Like they're not

8:49

on base. How can it look like they're

8:52

playing with any life when they don't have

8:54

any opportunities to put the game in motion?

8:56

That's what makes a game look lively. So

8:58

I get it. I'm not going to

9:01

question anybody's effort level or whether

9:03

they're playing hard when they're not hitting.

9:05

Because I understand that it looks bad, but

9:08

that doesn't mean it is bad. Someone's

9:11

going to have to help me on

9:13

this many defensive miscues. They're

9:15

not as bad as mental mistakes. If

9:18

it was mental mistake after mental mistake,

9:20

base running error after error, I would

9:22

sit here and say, hey, guys, that's

9:24

concentration issue. That's a focus

9:26

issue. You've got a major problem on your hands.

9:28

That's a team that looks like it did at

9:30

the end of Lloyd McLendon's era. Like you can't

9:32

have it. This

9:34

isn't that. But I'm going

9:36

to need somebody to help me a little bit

9:39

on what it means when you make this many

9:41

physical errors in the field or –

9:43

and I'm not using error in the

9:45

capital E sense of the word. I'm

9:48

using it in the lowercase e, if that makes sense,

9:50

because that one's not a true error according to Major

9:52

League Baseball. But it's an error in how you played.

9:55

What does that mean? Because it feels like

9:57

for Jorge Polanco, he's a good – enough

10:00

baseball player that he should not be making this

10:02

many of those mistakes. Right. They are contagious. I

10:04

said that. I'm sure they are. But you can't

10:06

have that. But you can't have it. You can't

10:08

have it. Not as a veteran.

10:10

Not as a veteran leader who they've brought in

10:12

to be one of the solidifying members of this

10:14

team. You can't have it.

10:16

And I'm not. I don't hate Polanco. And I

10:18

appreciate that it's early and I understand that he's

10:21

got a long, you know, he's got a great

10:24

track record of an ability to

10:26

do more than this. You can't do

10:28

that. I got textures here saying

10:30

he acts like he doesn't care. I don't think that's true. I

10:32

don't know what would possibly make you. Maybe if that. Yeah. There's

10:34

a lot of baseball players that I guess act like they don't

10:36

care because there's not a lot of emotion showed throughout the course

10:38

of a night. I don't know what you wanted to do. Take

10:41

his glove, spike it into the ground and then kick it. And

10:43

then we'd say, well, he's throwing a temper tantrum on the field.

10:45

There's no playing this kind of defense, but he was

10:47

completely raking. Then maybe we would be

10:49

okay. But. And maybe he's

10:51

taking the offensive problems into the field. Maybe he's taking

10:53

the field problems into the plate. That's what we were

10:55

saying with one last year. I don't hate this guy

10:58

or anything. Trust me. But this has

11:00

to stop. That that

11:03

very well may have cost them the game last night.

11:06

And if I'm George Kirby, I'm mad at

11:08

myself. I'm bummed about the

11:10

hitting. But and

11:13

I know that for every time you're off at

11:15

your defense makes an error. You get another time

11:17

where they take away a hit or take away

11:20

a run and they end up helping you out.

11:22

Your major leaguers. It's expected. Yeah, you

11:24

expect the defense to be at a

11:26

certain level. And right now it absolutely

11:28

is not. You're free

11:30

now. Free to stream beyond your wildest dreams.

11:33

Free to be everything you imagine. And

11:35

then that's how it feels

11:37

to have Quantum Fiber. Your world

11:39

unleashed. Learn more at quantumfiber.com. Limited

11:42

availability, service and select locations only.

11:45

Cantor Diamond, fourth generation importers sourcing quality

11:47

diamonds. We save you the most in

11:49

our low overhead professional office. Buy a

11:52

barman in Tacoma or globally by phone

11:54

or email bestdiamondprice.com or visit us on

11:56

Instagram at K A N T O

11:59

R Diamond. The Mariners Kids Club is

12:01

100% free and a

12:03

great way to get your kids excited

12:05

for a lifetime of Mariners baseball. Sign

12:07

up online and your youngster will receive

12:10

a Kids Club hat, access to early

12:12

gate opportunities, discounts and more. Go to

12:14

mariners.com/kidsclub to join. Seattle's

12:16

Museum of Pop Culture presents massive

12:19

the power of pop culture. Massive

12:21

the power of pop culture. Deep

12:23

dive into pop culture moments in

12:25

which we are all both creators

12:27

and consumers. Open now. Tickets at

12:29

mopop.org. Hey, it

12:31

is Mike Salk here and want to talk

12:34

to you guys about a sin prime steak

12:36

and sushi. You know it in downtown Bellevue,

12:38

right? How about their weekend brunch? Because it's

12:40

not just a meal. It honestly is like

12:42

an entire lifestyle, right? The fine dining restaurant

12:44

elevates beyond your typical brunch each Saturday and

12:46

Sunday from 10 to 2. It's

12:48

all created with sharing in mind

12:50

and it's been refreshed for spring

12:52

with some dishes. Let's get to

12:54

them. American Wagyu shoulder tenderloin served

12:56

with a sunny side up quail

12:58

egg and yuzu hollandaise. It's raining

13:00

bacon. That's a spread of lamb

13:03

belly with a Koji mirin syrup

13:05

beef belly with yuzu koshu hot

13:07

honey and pork belly with a

13:09

togarashi maple glaze. Hot honey is

13:11

everywhere and it is delicious. You

13:13

got the dreamy milk bread pudding

13:15

souffle with dragon fruit and creme

13:17

anglaise and then fan favorites, right?

13:19

Steak and egg fried rice cheat

13:21

your own chicken and waffle and

13:23

then the fruit topia pancakes man.

13:26

I'm getting hungry. Honestly, here's the

13:28

news though. The restaurant masterminds at

13:30

Ascent have just launched high notes.

13:32

That is their new live music brunch

13:34

series featuring local musicians occurring the first

13:36

Saturday of each month from 1030 to

13:38

130. High notes

13:40

pairs the elevated brunch menu and atmosphere

13:42

at Ascent Prime with live musical performances.

13:44

Think cheat your own chicken and waffle

13:47

with a side of electric cello. It's

13:49

raining bacon with vibing piano keys. You

13:51

get the idea. Join the team at

13:53

Ascent Prime Steak and Sushi for brunch

13:55

this weekend Saturday and Sunday from 10

13:58

to 2 reservations and more. at

14:00

ascendprime.com. Back

15:00

to back night for reaching our starter deeper in

15:02

the ballgame and certainly that is

15:23

what we pride ourselves on is pitching, pitching defense

15:26

and getting the next starter deep in the game

15:28

and we haven't been able to do that. Yeah

15:56

they ended up even bringing the tying run to

15:58

the plate in the ninth unfortunately Rojas. Drowns

16:00

into a double play and that's it. They're

16:02

now four and eight They've lost six of

16:04

their last seven last game of the road

16:06

trip will be today And you got all

16:08

eyes on Logan Gilbert, but they're gonna need

16:10

it. Honestly get the five and eight You

16:14

know, you're still three games within five hundred five

16:16

and eight's gonna feel a whole lot different from

16:18

four nine Coming home at that

16:20

point. So huge huge opportunity for Logan Gilbert

16:22

who you know We've been kind of counting

16:24

on and thinking is gonna be taking the

16:26

mantle is one of the real leaders in

16:29

this staff Well, here's an opportunity to

16:31

slam the door and do something they really need You

16:37

need to know meetings galore

16:39

apparently for the Seahawks It's meeting season as

16:41

they continue to prep for the draft now

16:43

just over two weeks away According to Ian

16:45

Rappaport South Carolina quarterback Spencer Rattler was in

16:48

Seattle for a visit with the Seahawks yesterday

16:50

So they are certainly taking some time To

16:52

at least the interview meet with and get

16:54

all of the due diligence done on the

16:56

quarterbacks here in this draft Mike

16:59

Garifalo reporting Florida State Edge rusher

17:01

Jared verse was visiting Seahawks on

17:03

Tuesday And he will

17:05

continue to visit today versus also meeting

17:07

with the Bucks and the Broncos So

17:10

yeah again some names that are very familiar

17:12

hanging out and being around this team They

17:14

don't have a tremendous amount of draft capital

17:16

But the way this draft is shaping up

17:18

it seems like it could go in multiple

17:21

different directions and they got to be prepared

17:23

for it Seahawks also hosted Chase Claypool the

17:25

veteran wide receiver Yes Here's a second-round pick

17:27

of the Steelers who had a couple of

17:29

good seasons early then went to Chicago and

17:31

then to Miami And he's kind

17:33

of fallen off hard since then they also

17:36

signed tackle Max percher yesterday He was

17:38

on the Raiders practice squad last year. He's been

17:40

with You

17:45

know Tomorrow

17:47

Scotty Shepler of course is the

17:49

favorite Rory McIlroy looking to complete

17:51

a career grand slam I was

17:53

watching an interview with Rory yesterday

17:55

where he named every Masters winner

17:57

since the early 90s He

18:01

was pretty impressive. He got almost

18:03

tripped up a couple times and then like figured it

18:05

out and at the end he's like, okay, 22 Sheffler,

18:08

23 Rom, 24 Rory McElroy. Good

18:12

for him. Like, it's what he needs, man.

18:15

He's done everything else that he needs to

18:17

do, but this is the

18:19

last step in his career, Grand

18:22

Slam. He's reached out to Butch

18:24

Harmon to work with him and I thought the comment

18:26

he had about his daughter, his little daughter Poppy. He

18:28

said he had to go. She said, where are you

18:30

going? I'm going to go get a lesson. She said, you

18:32

already know how to play golf. And

18:35

I think working with books with Butch is really

18:37

could be the thing that unlocks it for him

18:39

because Butch is a great instructor at just letting

18:41

players play the way they want to play and

18:44

helping remind them that they're good at the game.

18:46

Rory isn't playing the par three. He's not doing

18:48

as many practice rounds. I think he's trying a

18:50

different way to solve the riddle. The Slam's out

18:52

there. He's the only person for whom everyone else

18:55

that they win this week, they win the Masters.

18:57

He wins this week. He wins this land. And

19:00

that's a lot. Yeah, it's a lot of pressure that he plays

19:02

with. Tiger will be out there. By the way, that

19:04

was Scott Manpel, who's going to join us at 7.30. Tiger

19:07

reportedly had a great practice round on

19:09

Monday. Remember he withdrew

19:11

after making the cut in 2023. So

19:14

that will get going tomorrow. And

19:18

of course, the Kraken, they won five nothing in Arizona

19:20

yesterday. That's not even really the story, though. The story

19:22

is Shane Wright. The rookie picked off by Seattle Shane

19:24

Wright. All the lines, defense pairings, top of your screen.

19:26

Shane Wright digs it home. Shane Wright and

19:29

the Kraken are off and running with

19:32

1852 left in period one. Yeah,

19:42

how about that? He got on the board

19:45

early. That is three goals and an assist

19:47

in the four games that he's played since

19:49

being called up. Really,

19:51

really good to see. And not just that, he's going

19:53

to the dirty areas on the ice, very promising. Although

19:55

I will say all of those have come against the

19:57

deep shoots and coyotes. in

20:01

the league. All right, that's everything you need to know.

20:03

Quarter past every hour here in the Brock and Salt

20:05

Show. So it sounds like Roar is kind of using

20:07

my strategy of not warming up as much, right?

20:10

As it were for you. Well, it works pretty

20:12

well, to be honest with you. I played better.

20:14

Like maybe he feels like he's getting older and

20:16

he only has so many good swings in there

20:18

before fatigue becomes a factor. He's got to play

20:20

four rounds in four days. You know, he's got

20:22

a little pressure on him, slightly more than I

20:24

do. And so maybe he's just borrowing the same

20:26

philosophy. I have no more warmups. Just go out

20:28

there and play, man. Don't

20:31

exhaust yourself. I'm sure that's easy for a guy as heady

20:33

as him to just not let it bother him the whole

20:35

time he's not working. Just not going to do it. Just

20:38

going to head out there. Going to go have a soda

20:40

and just have some fun. Have a

20:42

little fun out there. All right, more from

20:44

Scott Vampelt who will join us from Augusta

20:46

coming up an hour from now before we

20:48

do it. Jeff Passen yesterday and

20:51

it was a wide ranging discussion. Brock

20:53

was fascinated by one part of

20:55

this. And my guess is he'll keep coming back

20:57

to it over and over again because it hits

20:59

home for him just as I'm sure it will

21:01

for a lot of you, especially if you are

21:03

the parents of somebody playing baseball in high school,

21:06

in middle school, even in little league. You're going

21:08

to want to listen to what Jeff says next.

21:10

Sproken Saltfield, Sports on 710. Cantor

21:12

Diamond, truly the best diamond

21:14

prices, saving you big on

21:16

your next special diamond. Buy

21:18

appointment in our Tacoma showroom

21:20

or globally by phone or

21:22

email. cantordiamond.com or on Instagram

21:24

at K-A-N-T-O-R Diamond. You're

21:27

free now. Free to stream beyond your

21:29

wildest dream. Free to be everything you

21:31

imagine and then, that's how

21:33

it feels to have Quantum Fiber, your

21:35

world unleashed. Learn more at

21:37

quantumfiber.com. Limited availability, service and

21:39

select locations only. Explore

21:42

the meaning and undeniable global impact

21:44

of pop culture. Discover massive the

21:47

power of pop culture. Seattle's museum

21:49

of pop culture's newest exhibit featuring

21:51

iconic artifacts, stories, controversies and perspectives.

21:54

Open now. Tickets at mopop.org. Hey,

21:57

it is Mike Salk here and want to talk to you guys about

21:59

a sin. prime steak and sushi, you know

22:01

it in downtown Bellevue, right? How about their

22:03

weekend brunch? Because it's not just a meal,

22:06

it honestly is like an entire lifestyle, right?

22:08

The fine dining restaurant elevates beyond your typical

22:10

brunch each Saturday and Sunday from 10 to

22:12

2. It's all created with

22:14

sharing in mind and it's been

22:17

refreshed for spring with some dishes.

22:19

Let's get to them. American Wagyu

22:21

shoulder tenderloin served with a sunny

22:23

side up quail egg and yuzu

22:25

hollandaise. It's raining bacon, that's a

22:27

spread of lamb belly with a

22:29

koji mirin syrup, beef belly with

22:31

yuzu koshu hot honey and pork

22:33

belly with a togarashi maple glaze.

22:36

Hot honey is everywhere and it

22:38

is delicious. You got the dreamy

22:40

milk bread pudding souffle with dragon

22:42

fruit and creme anglaise and then

22:44

fan favorites, right? Steak and egg,

22:46

fried rice, cheat your own chicken

22:48

and waffle and then the fruitopia

22:50

pancakes. Man, I'm getting hungry, honestly.

22:52

Here's the news though, the restaurant

22:55

masterminds at Ascend have just launched

22:57

High Notes. That is their new

22:59

live music brunch series featuring local musicians

23:01

occurring the first Saturday of each month from

23:03

1030 to 130. High Notes

23:06

pairs the elevated brunch menu and atmosphere

23:08

at Ascend Prime with live musical performances.

23:10

Think cheat your own chicken and waffle

23:12

with a side of electric cello. It's

23:14

raining bacon with vibing piano keys, you

23:17

get the idea. Join the team at

23:19

Ascend Prime Steak and Sushi for brunch

23:21

this weekend, Saturday and Sunday from 10

23:24

to 2 reservations and

23:26

more at ascendprime.com. Hey

23:28

there! Did you know Kroger always gives you

23:31

savings and rewards on top of our lower

23:33

than low prices? And when you download the

23:35

Kroger app, you'll enjoy over $500 in savings

23:38

every week with digital coupons. And don't forget

23:40

fuel points to help you save up to

23:42

$1 per gallon at the pump. Want

23:45

to save even more? With a boost membership,

23:47

you'll get double fuel points and free delivery.

23:49

So shop and save big at Kroger today!

23:52

of Kroger, fresh for everyone. Savings may

23:54

vary by state. Restrictions apply. See

23:56

site for details. is

24:01

bockensaw power through the alaska

24:03

airline studio weekdays 6 to

24:05

10 on seattle sports and

24:07

the seattle sports app all

24:11

right kind of bouncing around today we

24:14

do have another brock huard draft profile

24:16

coming up in 30 minutes looking

24:19

forward to that uh

24:21

good one today brock what do we got we got

24:23

a photo from pic today? I like this dude I

24:25

like this guy just a lot yeah I mean a

24:27

lot not a not a first-rounder because like the production

24:29

what he was asked to do as a defensive lineman

24:31

okay was not earth shattering in fact like the career

24:34

numbers you look at him and go no way I

24:36

mean look at what he's hardly done anything but he

24:38

was part of a blue wall that was a national

24:40

champion and I like guys like that okay well that

24:42

sounds good all right we'll get to that coming up

24:44

here in a half hour right now it's time on

24:46

time this week which is great Jeff

24:48

passing joining us from ESPN talk a

24:50

little baseball. Jeffrey good morning oh

24:54

glad to be coming into the chuckle hut there

24:56

saw that's us

24:58

it's like a comedy show here on

25:00

the brockensaw show we'll get to the

25:02

Mariners I want to start broader before we

25:04

talk about our 4 and 7 baseball team

25:07

that hasn't really I was going to say

25:10

I bet you do want to start on some subject out

25:12

of the mariners 4

25:14

and 7 they probably played closer to 2

25:16

and 9 it's not been a good start

25:18

but the biggest story in America right now

25:20

sports wise of course has been the women's

25:22

tournament and Caitlin Clark and just the buzz

25:24

of all that I would assume that you've

25:26

been caught up in that as well I

25:30

was among the 18.7 million yes I would

25:33

assume so okay so here's my question to

25:35

bring it back to baseball what

25:37

could what would it take for

25:39

baseball to create the kind of buzz

25:42

that women's college basketball has had for

25:44

the last 2 weeks well

25:48

let's let's focus I

25:51

think on specifically what

25:53

you said you

25:56

were not talking just about women's

25:58

college basketball the sport Right,

26:01

right. What what name

26:03

did you say in there? I might have

26:05

mentioned Caitlin Clark's name Yeah,

26:08

and and look that that's what it

26:11

is. Right? I mean it

26:13

is a star

26:15

of stars and To

26:18

me that's how this happens and

26:20

it happened once before back in

26:23

in like 98. I Mean

26:26

when Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa

26:28

were doing their thing all of

26:30

America was tuned in right and

26:33

and And baseball's cultural

26:35

resonance was no greater in

26:40

Then it is like Just

26:43

generally speaking then then it had

26:45

been any time You

26:48

know in the 20 years prior

26:50

probably I understand

26:53

baseball was online. It was in the midst of

26:55

an interesting run, you know, the Yankees Dynasty

26:58

was was just starting which kind of

27:00

turns fans off a little bit because

27:02

it's the Yankees But

27:05

it was stars and and

27:07

that's why I you know

27:10

I'm gonna tie this back to something

27:12

that it may not seem on the

27:14

surface Ties well

27:16

to it That's why

27:18

this starting pitching injury crisis

27:21

Brightens me so much It's

27:25

because major league baseball is essentially

27:29

saying that half

27:31

of our player population is

27:35

Being put in a position of such

27:38

peril that We're

27:40

willing to put them out there and allow

27:42

them Because of

27:44

what we encourage our pitchers to do

27:47

allow them to be in harm's way

27:50

and in doing so we are

27:52

taking stars that could be made

27:55

and We

27:57

are ridding them from our sport because of

27:59

injury And to

28:01

me, what baseball has long been

28:04

missing is that transcendent star. Shohei

28:06

Itani is the closest thing we've

28:08

seen to it, and

28:10

still, it was not enough to

28:12

get everyone to watch. So I think

28:15

it is somebody who is

28:17

so above and beyond ridiculously

28:19

good that when you're

28:21

in the office or when you're

28:23

with your friends, you

28:26

can bring him up in

28:28

conversation and not

28:32

be like, oh, you're talking about that? If

28:34

you were with somebody this weekend and

28:36

you were talking about Caitlin Clark, it's

28:39

almost like if the other person wasn't

28:41

conversant in her or in women's basketball,

28:43

they were the ones who were missing

28:45

out. And that, I think, is where

28:47

baseball can go. I don't know who

28:49

that person is going to be, but

28:51

there's no quick fix. There's no silver

28:54

bullet. I

28:56

mean, we look at a league

28:59

like the NBA guys that has

29:01

a ton of stars, and

29:04

the women's final outrated every NBA game of

29:06

the last how many years? I think like

29:08

10, something like that. Golf

29:12

had Tiger, total game changer.

29:14

Women's basketball has now had Caitlin. I think

29:16

the NBA had Jordan in the 80s that

29:18

they really propelled. And there were other stars,

29:20

obviously, in all of these. Imagine a bird

29:22

before that. Sure, absolutely. There were certainly other

29:24

stars. The NFL saw Tom Brady win seven

29:26

Super Bowls over 20 years, something that nobody

29:28

thought ever could be done. Can

29:31

you craft that player in baseball? Jeffrey,

29:33

can you say, okay, this is what you

29:35

need for this star to be like? No,

29:39

I mean, if I were to

29:41

create a player, it would have

29:43

been someone like Otani who's doing

29:45

something that's never been done. And

29:47

yet it's not sustainable. And to

29:49

your point, it's not sustainable. Yeah,

29:52

it's not just that it's not sustainable. I think

29:54

that it wasn't enough. It

29:57

wasn't enough to get everyone tuned in.

30:00

I think with, you know, with baseball, part of

30:02

that, let's put it this way. If

30:05

Otani were like chasing

30:07

a record, maybe

30:10

that would have been a little bit different. But

30:13

probably not. I mean,

30:15

he just happened to be on a team that

30:17

was terrible for the entirety of his career.

30:21

Dan just stunk. And there

30:23

was no record that he was chasing.

30:25

He was just like, it was kind

30:27

of boring. He was

30:29

being really consistent. I'm

30:34

sorry, but like super consistent

30:36

performance does not make

30:38

you say, you know what? I'm going to tune

30:40

in. And I

30:43

think, you know, I think baseball is one of those

30:45

games. It's what makes Dosa and

30:47

McGuire so remarkable. Baseball

30:49

is not one of those games that breeds

30:52

must watch individuals. And so

30:54

to see, you know, in

30:57

hindsight, how they captured just

31:00

the entire country back in 98,

31:03

I mean, it was awesome. And

31:06

I really wish I'd been covering baseball back then because

31:08

it would have been so much fun. You

31:11

mentioned the arm injuries. I know that one

31:13

of the conversations here is about the pitch

31:15

clock and the union has brought it up.

31:17

Do you believe, I mean, you've written the

31:19

book on it quite literally, the arm. Is

31:22

there any evidence at all to suggest that

31:24

the pitch clock is factoring into these arm

31:27

injuries? Zero. Watch.

31:31

But, and this is a really important, but you

31:34

still should study it. You still should

31:36

look into it. That's

31:40

where we are with this.

31:42

Every single element of

31:45

a pitcher's game deserves a

31:50

really keen eye on it.

31:52

And it's because we

31:54

don't know. And I am, you know,

31:57

I'm the guy who spent four years

31:59

studying. it. And I don't know. And that

32:02

was, you know, like,

32:04

I read back through there was

32:07

a particular chapter in the arm

32:10

that was meant to it. I remember

32:14

writing it and it was like, I'm

32:16

gonna try and predict

32:19

the future, which is a scary

32:21

thing to do when when you're

32:23

a writer, because the the

32:26

likelihood that egg ends up on

32:28

your face, even if you

32:30

know the subject forward and backward, is

32:33

pretty strong. And I went

32:35

back and I looked through this chapter and for

32:37

the most part, it kind of holds up. But

32:41

even even with that guys, I

32:45

still wrote that book and finished

32:48

that book without having an answer

32:50

after four years, which was a

32:52

deeply satisfying thing for me personally,

32:54

it's like, you know, you do,

32:56

you devote enough time to a

32:58

subject, and you still feel

33:00

like you don't have an answer, like what

33:03

you know, you can only

33:05

take so much solace in the journey, right?

33:09

I went into that book thinking I'm

33:11

gonna find someone something and come out

33:13

of it and say, this is the

33:15

problem. No, it's, there

33:18

is no silver bullet. There

33:20

is no panacea. There's

33:23

just better, better

33:26

process, and better ideals.

33:30

And the way that guys pitch

33:32

right now, it's very simple. It's

33:34

just it does not lead to long

33:36

term health. And like,

33:38

like I hate to hate to

33:41

bring it home here. But the

33:43

one thing I think we do know

33:45

pretty well at this point, don't know

33:48

if it's causative. Do

33:50

you know pretty well that it's correlated? The

33:53

harder you throw, the likely you are to get

33:56

hurt. And

33:58

the Seattle Mariners got a lot of

34:00

hard throwing pitchers. I

34:02

mean a lot and you know

34:05

it's it is I

34:07

hate to say it not with all of them

34:10

hopefully they're outliers but I

34:12

fear that it's just a matter of

34:14

time and and just to put

34:16

a bow on your original question here because you know

34:19

I can talk about this for hours.

34:22

I don't think it's the pitch clock

34:25

but I do think it's

34:27

important that some pitchers do think it's the

34:29

pitch clock and they're

34:31

the ones out there and they they

34:33

know better than anyone how

34:36

they feel and so it's incumbent on

34:38

Major League Baseball to at very least

34:40

listen to them and add that

34:43

to whatever they're looking into right

34:45

now especially if that's the price

34:48

that they have to pay for the

34:50

modern pitchers to sit down and talk with

34:53

them and give their insight which has not

34:55

happened to this point and

34:57

if you're doing a study that doesn't

34:59

include the the stakeholders in this it's

35:03

it's an incomplete study. I

35:05

promise Mariner fans we'll get to Julio in the Mariners

35:07

in just one second let me just finish this off

35:10

with what is really scary to me Jeffrey

35:12

is I've got a I've got a child as you

35:14

would term him I've got a child of my own

35:16

at 14 quote I started

35:18

following the injury patterns and injury rates

35:21

in the year 2000 this is Dr. James

35:23

Andrews back in those days I did about

35:25

eight or nine Tommy Johns per year on

35:28

high school and younger kids the large majority

35:30

of Tommy Johns were at the Major League

35:32

level then the minor league level then the

35:34

college level and maybe a handful of high

35:36

school kids in today's situation whole things

35:38

flipped the largest number is youth baseball

35:40

they've surpassed what's being done in the

35:42

Major Leagues and that is a terrible

35:44

situation he says the obsession with velocity

35:47

and spin at the youth levels having

35:49

a devastating impact on arms in the

35:51

game itself final quote these kids are

35:53

throwing 90 their junior year of high

35:55

school which I just watched yesterday the

35:57

ligament itself can't withstand that kind of

35:59

force We've learned in a research lab

36:01

that baseball is a developmental sport. The Tommy

36:03

John ligament matures at 26. In

36:06

high school, the red line where the forces

36:08

go beyond the tensile properties of the ligament

36:11

is 80. Jeff, they're throwing

36:13

80 as eighth graders. This

36:17

is kind of scary stuff to yours

36:19

truly. And to what you said to

36:21

the game of baseball overall, if it

36:24

is not sustainable biologically. So

36:27

my kid comes home from summer

36:29

camp. You know, we have tried

36:32

to keep him away from the

36:35

absolute racket that is

36:37

like travel ball and in

36:41

large part because, you

36:43

know, the idea of him going and

36:46

throwing all

36:48

the time and playing

36:50

year round baseball. And

36:54

that is destroying kids arms. My

36:57

kid gets home and he.

37:01

No, we'll come as a shock to you because

37:03

I am decidedly not. But

37:05

he's a tall kid and he's

37:08

got an arm that moves very

37:10

fast. But he only, you know, he

37:12

only weighed like 155 pounds. And

37:17

the first thing he says is I need to gain weight.

37:20

Right. I need to get bigger.

37:22

I need to get stronger. And I'm like, okay,

37:24

that's like, that's an admirable goal. Um,

37:28

like why? And the answer is I

37:30

got it for harder. Now

37:34

I'm, I understand. I

37:38

understand his motivations there

37:42

because let's look if you want to pitch

37:44

in college as he does

37:46

or play in college as, as, as

37:48

a goal of his, and he's a

37:50

very, very goal oriented person. Um,

37:54

the only way you're going to get on the radar college coaches is

37:56

if he hit 90. Like

37:59

that's, that's. is just that is

38:01

just a truth of

38:04

where things have gone. And

38:06

so I

38:09

sit here and, you know, I

38:11

am literally the guy who wrote

38:13

the book on

38:16

the subject. And

38:18

I'm watching my child walk exactly

38:22

toward the area where

38:25

I'm suggesting to other parents, like,

38:28

it's, you know, it's like

38:30

Anakin in the really bad

38:32

Star Wars movie, where his

38:34

whole body gets burned off.

38:36

And he's going, No, it's

38:38

like slow motion, me seeing

38:41

the kid going toward that. And

38:44

I can't say that. No, don't. I

38:46

mean, it's no, I'm not gonna put

38:48

a restrictor plate on his life. He

38:51

understands the consequences. He understands the, you

38:53

know, he's a smart enough kid where

38:55

he gets everything that's in

38:57

play here. This is

38:59

just the way for him to do it right now.

39:01

You want to talk about a sport that's broken,

39:03

guys. It's not broken

39:06

because all of the players that

39:09

have gotten hurt at the big league level

39:11

are getting hurt. It's broken

39:13

because the incentive structure is such

39:15

that it's beginning at the youth

39:17

level. Change

39:19

that you change the game. Great

39:22

stuff. All right, Jeff, let's, because we

39:25

still have another 10 minutes here, talk

39:27

about this four and seven Mariner team.

39:29

As I said, they've probably played closer

39:31

to two and nine baseball. How serious

39:33

a problem is it? I'm

39:37

not there yet. We do this every year, guys.

39:40

Sometimes it's a Mariner. Sometimes

39:42

it's other teams that start

39:44

off really bad. This, like,

39:47

this may be cold comfort. But

39:50

the fact is, the fact that

39:52

they're four and seven, when, like, everybody

39:54

on the team, the Thai France, can't

39:56

hit right now is

39:59

actually a good thing because you're right by run

40:01

differential I believe they've got the fourth worst

40:03

run differential in baseball right now and

40:06

the other three teams are really

40:08

bad. The

40:10

Marlins who have one win it's the

40:12

White Sox who have one win and

40:15

it's the Rockies I believe who are

40:17

a total disaster. And then it's the

40:19

Mariners right there. So I

40:22

look at that and say OK having

40:24

four at this point is is better

40:26

than where they should be. Beyond

40:29

the hitting if

40:32

you go and look at the

40:34

differences between the R.A.

40:36

and fielding independent pitching which is

40:39

a it's a very

40:41

simple stat actually that

40:43

takes into account the walks strikeouts

40:46

and home runs that you've allowed.

40:49

It essentially tries to and does

40:51

a pretty decent job of

40:53

predicting future performance. And when there's

40:56

a big gap between the

40:58

R.A. and FIP that means that

41:00

there's going to be some positive regression to

41:02

the mean. And I

41:05

believe every Mariner starter has a higher

41:07

area in Luis Castillo's case is significantly

41:10

higher area than his FIP which

41:12

means it's probably going to get

41:14

better. That

41:17

being said does it if the defense doesn't

41:19

get better. I

41:21

was just going to say part of it is

41:23

the defensive issues. And

41:26

they need to clean that up. But

41:28

but ultimately this thing is going to be we

41:31

know the pitching is going to be good as

41:33

long as it's healthy pitching is going

41:35

to be good. The

41:38

bats you know the bats just

41:40

need to figure out because

41:42

everyone needs to

41:45

figure it out. Crawford needs to

41:47

figure it out. The new guys need to

41:49

figure it out. Everyone needs

41:51

to figure it out or otherwise this thing

41:53

is just going to spiral and get pretty

41:55

gnarly. Jeffrey give

41:58

the Mariner fan out there the. couple

42:00

places that Jeff Passen goes to

42:03

when you know you're gonna jump on with us

42:05

every Tuesday throughout the entire season and we love

42:07

it and our audience loves it and

42:09

I know you do your homework so what are

42:11

a few of the places you just mentioned Fip

42:13

right there is now I think that's a great

42:15

start and a great point what are some of

42:17

the other kind of next-level numbers that you dig

42:20

into that you look at that you'd really do

42:22

feel like oh boy this is gonna go off

42:24

the rails or this is going to come back

42:26

to the mean I

42:29

you know I I still think I

42:31

know this is a dissatisfaction answer I

42:33

still think it's just too early to

42:35

glean anything because you

42:38

know the the stuff like hard

42:40

hit rate and fastball

42:42

velocity and other things that that

42:44

I tend to look at they

42:46

haven't stabilized at this point and

42:49

it usually takes a month to

42:51

get that stability in a lot of

42:53

those numbers so I do go

42:55

to fan grass and I go to baseball

42:57

so thought those are you know those are

42:59

like my two my two

43:01

binkies and and those are the

43:03

things that I've leaned on to

43:06

help educate me and you know

43:08

I watch games and my eyes tell

43:10

me one thing but those are

43:12

the those are the places that have the

43:15

numbers that tell

43:17

me whether my eyes are lying to me my

43:19

eyes are not lying right now it's not good what

43:22

do you make of Julio's kind of

43:24

streakiness to start his career we've seen

43:26

him look like the best player of

43:29

all time and we've seen him go

43:31

through these stretches where he's really struggling

43:34

is that likely to just be who he is

43:36

is that something guys can find their way out

43:38

of what do you make of the streakiness can

43:40

I add just one little component to that too

43:42

and throw one other little angle on that Jeffrey

43:44

is it six three two thirty is

43:46

that does that play a role of it

43:48

just with the amount of size and the amount

43:51

of moving parts you have on such an

43:53

amazing talented but big athlete yeah

43:56

I mean there's nothing you can do about that

43:58

like that that's what you got You

44:00

know, he's it's a it

44:03

doesn't look like 230. You know

44:05

what I mean? Like if you look at

44:07

him, you would say like 632 10. He

44:10

carries that 230 very well. It's

44:12

very well proportioned. So I, you

44:15

know, I don't think there's going to be a whole

44:18

lot changing the body, but there

44:21

are players like

44:23

who that's who they are. I'm

44:26

not there with Julio yet because I

44:28

still think he's too young. I don't

44:30

think that I don't

44:33

think he's a finished product

44:36

by any means. And I

44:38

think there is I think consistency

44:41

is something that can be learned. And

44:44

that he's still trying to figure out

44:47

some of the ways to do that. How

44:49

about swing and miss percentage? How about just

44:52

the swing and miss? Is there a corollary

44:54

to quarterback accuracy? You know, when I look

44:56

at quarterbacks and there's a certain level, Jeff,

44:58

that man, they've got just some innate God

45:01

given accuracy and command. And usually

45:03

those numbers don't grow tremendously. You kind

45:05

of are what you are. I mean,

45:07

systems can change that. But can you

45:10

see a swinging miss percentage

45:12

dramatically improve over the course of

45:14

time? Yes. Look

45:17

at Ronald D'Acunya Jr.'s numbers last year.

45:20

The strikeout rate in particular

45:22

is the way that that

45:24

manifests itself. And he cut

45:26

his strikeout rate by

45:28

more than 50 percent last year. So,

45:31

yes, it is it is possible.

45:34

And I think that comes

45:36

with with the mastery or

45:38

as close as one can get to mastery

45:40

of of hitting. And I

45:43

think you were telling a story last week,

45:45

Mike, about how you guys were watching him

45:47

hit off the trajectory machine. Right. I

45:51

think that those sorts

45:54

of tools that exist now that didn't

45:56

exist in the past will

45:58

help in that regard. And

46:00

that when you have somebody who's

46:03

so innately physically talented, he's the

46:05

kind of person who can take that leap

46:07

at some point. But let's just like, elephant

46:09

in the room here, the

46:12

hitting is an issue because

46:14

of the strikeouts. I believe

46:16

they have the highest strikeout rate in

46:18

baseball. Last I looked, I'm

46:21

not doing that thing, Brock, where I'm

46:23

in front of my computer today. But

46:25

check me on this. I believe the

46:27

Mariner strikeout rate this year is 28.6%.

46:31

Yeah, they've been in the bottom five,

46:33

whatever it is. I mean, the strikeouts

46:35

have been problematic. I'm going to continue

46:37

to argue that the bigger problem is they haven't hit for

46:39

any power. They have almost no

46:42

power whatsoever. They haven't walked nearly

46:44

enough either. And when you walk

46:46

and hit home runs, it makes those strikeouts feel

46:48

not so serious. That's

46:50

what the Minnesota Twins did last year, and

46:52

it took them to the playoffs. They believe

46:54

they had the worst strikeout rate in baseball,

46:56

and they still won their division.

46:59

And they did it because they walked

47:01

a lot, and they hit tanks. And

47:03

you're absolutely right with that. All right,

47:06

Jeff. Well, let's end on that. I don't think we've ever said those words

47:08

here on the show. Mike, you're absolutely

47:10

right. I'm shocked. I don't know what to do with it.

47:12

I don't know what to do with myself. The

47:15

rest of the week is going to be confusing for

47:17

me, but I appreciate the kind words. Yeah. Oh,

47:20

I'm so sorry I gave you

47:22

an existential crisis. Jeff,

47:27

thank you. As always, we'll talk

47:29

next week. All

47:31

right, boys, take care. Yeah, an existential crisis

47:33

because Jeff agreed with me. I don't know

47:35

if he quite has that one right, but

47:38

I appreciate the thought from Mr. Passon. All

47:40

right. Yeah,

47:42

things did not improve, by the way, since then. Things

47:44

just got a little bit worse last night as they

47:46

just played the exact same game. It felt like they

47:48

had played the night before. Coming up next, I'm going

47:50

to shift gears because we've got a real busy day.

47:52

Scott Van Pelt's going to join us at 7.30. We're

47:55

going to talk some draft at 9.30 with

47:57

Bruce Feldman. But I saw

47:59

some... something yesterday. In fact,

48:02

one of you, I think more, you might have sent this over

48:04

from Mike Sandow. And it really,

48:07

it has me up in my head because it feels

48:09

like the Seahawks may have

48:11

the most polarizing player, at least in

48:14

terms of evaluation, in the league.

48:16

And I don't know what to make of it. It's next.

48:18

I'm Brock and Soulke. Hey there! Did you

48:20

know Kroger always gives you savings and rewards

48:22

on top of our lower than low prices?

48:25

And when you download the Kroger app, you'll

48:27

enjoy over $500 in savings every week with

48:29

digital coupons. And don't forget fuel points to

48:32

help you save up to $1 per

48:34

gallon at the pump. Want to save even

48:36

more? With a boost membership, you'll get double

48:39

fuel points and free delivery. So shop and

48:41

save big at Kroger today! Kroger,

48:43

fresh for everyone. Savings may vary

48:45

by state. Restrictions apply. See site

48:47

for details.