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Coming to you live from the Elliet Avenue studios of Sports Radio ninety three point

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three KJRFM. This is our weekly visit with former Mariners outfielders Steven Suza Junior,

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nineteen sixty two. Now with Stephen Susa Junior, Here's SOFTI and dig all

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right, here we go. Big thanks to our friends at Taco Time for

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sponsoring the Shindig every single Monday. Always use the order ahead option at Taco

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Time in w dot com. Our friend here he is former big league or

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baby, recently retired and now member the media, just like a Steven Suza

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Junior. How are you pal? Now? What's going on? Guys?

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Excited to be a part of the media. You know I was gonna ask

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you do you do you miss playing? I mean, never think that.

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Man, Maybe retiring was the wrong move because now I'm sitting here talking to

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these bozos on Monday's o'clock. No, you know what I miss competing?

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I love competing for so many years. There's something about trapping it on and

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just going up against somebody of equal or higher or lesser talent and seeing who's

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the best. I mean, that's what I missed. But talking about it,

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I love the game so much. You make it interesting. Guys.

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Well, you know what's not been interesting, Steven? These baseball games.

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They have not been interested. So let's just start big picture. Is this

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something really to worry about what you're seeing? Or is this just the typical

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April Seattle Mariner offense not getting out of its winter slumber. Yeah? I

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think you know, we talked about early. Over the last three seasons,

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they've really just continuously got off to really bad starts, and you know,

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I think you you're apt to believe that they'll turn it around and go on

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a hot street, because that's what they've kind of shown. I think everybody's

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just getting frustrated with kind of the inconsistent play and the dispairity. Rather the

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it's such a huge gap from when they're hot and when they're not going well

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like good teams, that the GAP's not huge. Right. They make a

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bad series, make some bad plays, but man, when they when they

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mess up the Mariners, they mess up bad, and when they go good,

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it's exciting. And I think that's where you see the roller coaster of

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emotions from the fan base reacting that way. Yeah, well, let's let's

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start at the top with Julio Rodriguez had the day off yesterday until he didn't

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and then he gets picked off to end the game at first base. What'd

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you make of that decision number one to insert Julio into the game. And

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then when you look at Julio and after sixteen he's got an ops A three

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seventy four or excuse me, four forty one, which is three seventy four

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points below his career average. By the way, I think it's kind of

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fair to ask what's happening with the biggest star on this baseball team so far?

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Yeah, I don't know. I can't quite put my finger on it, you know, I think you know. I went back and forth last

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night on got service pinch running Julio there. Obviously, obviously from a logistics

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standpoint, he's the fastest base runner and if somebody puts one in the gap,

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he's gonna score for first base. But you know, when you've got

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your star that's kind of treading water and trying to find his way. A

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great, full day off is a great thing to give him, to let

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him just kind of decompress, get his mind away from the game. And

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to me, you know, Scott putting him in right there puts him back

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in that adrenaline. He really never got a full day off, you know,

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when you're asking him to steal a base or that's what it looked like

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at least in the ninth inning. There's just you're putting a lot on Julio,

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I guess to do and be successful early on. Now, look,

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he's a superstar and he can handle the responsibility, and that's what he's gonna

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do. Being paid that contract and hitting in the middle of the lineup,

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that's that's what comes with that territory. But I do think like if you

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take him away out of that lineup, like what does that lineup look like?

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Like we saw it on Sunday, It's it's not the greatest, right,

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And so I feel like there's a lot that falls on a twenty two

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year old shoulders. That he's done pretty well and I have no doubt he'll

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turn it around. It's just that when he's not doing well. You see

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the results as a team, it's really tough to kind of fallow, and

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so you know he'll turn it around, no doubt, but a lot ways

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on his shoulders and is going to in the coming games and future. What

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I thought was weird is you had a day game on Wednesday, you had

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an off day on Thursday, and then he plays two games and then he

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needs a day off, Like, I'm surprised that on April fourteenth, a

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twenty three year old superstar is getting a day off. Is that was that

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surprising to you? Yeah, it's not so much the physicality, right,

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Like I think we all can agree physically he doesn't need it, like he's

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young, he's energetic, and he's good to go. But I think it's

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the mental break when you're just seeing the bat's kind of spiral and sitting there

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on the bench and watching the game is a little bit different than being involved,

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and even the the day off at your house, Dack, it's right

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being able to slow down and see it from a different perspective and just watch

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the ball goal around the yard, take your time to walk through the at

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bats in your mind with the picture, and even check out a little bit

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with no stress of like I need to produce right here, there's something that

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does to your mind more than your body. It's sitting there and watching the

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game. Yeah, I just think the mental stress of having to stay prepared

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to enter a game. Yeah right, I mean, I mean there's certainly

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a something to that. And I'm totally with you. You want to give

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a guy a day off, give him mental break, then let him stay home, watch a game on TV, and kick his legs up and have

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a glass of wine for God's sake. So I'm with you on that.

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But Steven Susan junior with us courtesy at tackle time every Monday at five o'clock?

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What is going on with Luis Castile? Had a better performance over the

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weekend against the Cubs, but still nowhere near that dominant, number one starter

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type of performance that we've been waiting for. What do you see happening with

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this guy? He's oh and four so far? Man, unbelievable. Yeah,

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you know, the star was definitely better. It was a quality start,

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but you know his filo is that tick down. Things just don't look

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as sharp early on, and you know, I can't really pinpoint what that

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is. I know, he's a workhorse and really gets after it, and

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those guys Wouldy and the rest of those guys are trying to really put their

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finger on it. But he's too good to be pitching like this, And

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I think, you know, kind of the reaction is heightened when you've got

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your ace not doing well, your superstar not doing well. George Kirby hasn't

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pitched great, right, and so these things are all kind of magnified when

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you see it. I have no doubt that Julio and Castillo will turn it

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around. It's just that can they be dominant the rest of you Can they

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have big years? Because if they don't, then what does this seem look

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like going forward? That's a great point. And you know you mentioned the

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April starts, and you're exactly right. So what is the culpability level of

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Scott's service? I mean, if you have one April, so it's bad,

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Okay, that happens, right, it's kind of fluky. You get four bad aprils in a row, that's a trend. So what's the culpability

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of the manager not getting his team going right out of the gates after spring

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training? I don't know, you know, because I know in listening to

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him in some of his press conference and talking to some of the guys,

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it's like they made it a point to try and get out the gates hot,

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like, hey, let's not start slow, that we can be in

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a much better position throughout the year. Now, I was thinking about this,

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and this isn't going to get easier for them, because Texas is going

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to get healthy, Houston's not healthy, and their schedule is not getting easier.

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You know, last year, I think you could throw them a bone.

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The league was just not as good. You know. There was a

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lot of teams that just weren't very good last year and that you could wipe

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away some series wins, some series sweeps. It's not like that this year.

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The league is a lot better this year, through and through. And

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so I'm a little bit more concerned that if they don't take care of business

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this week, They've got Atlanta coming in, they've got to go to Minnesota,

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they've got New York next month to start it off. They've got a tough set of games to come up, and they're gonna need to take care

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of business. I think all that to be said, there's still only two

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games back that the Rangers aren't playing great, but this is their time.

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They've got to turn it around and get ahead of the Rangers in the Astros

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so that when all those guys get healthy, it's gonna be a battle for

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that division. It's a big week for them, no question about it.

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Obviously cannot save the season, but it could put them in a gigantic hole

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that might be really hard to get out of it if they can't find a

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way to play well this week. Steven Susan Junior is with us on the

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air. What do you see, Stevens specifically from Jorge Polanco? I mean,

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he was your kind of premier acquisition right in some ways over the offseason,

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and he's off to a real slow start, hitting a buck ninety six

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with a six to twenty two ops. What do you see specifically from jehey

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men, Well, he started off miserable right. The first week and a

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half was I don't even know if he had more than two or three hits,

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right, It was pretty bad. So recently it's been really good.

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Yeah. Yeah, back quality has been really good. He hit the homer

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the other day, and you see him bailing up a lot of balls.

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I see the back quality raising right, he's staying inside the ball a lot

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better. Brownie's done a good job of keeping him through the middle of the

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field. And I see him really turning around, and they're gonna need him because he's sitting in the middle of that lineup. Let's change it to a

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little bit of positivity. What are you seeing in Bryce Miller? Because this

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guy hasn't given up an earned run since his first start, you know,

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every time, then every time, I'm telling you, right, he's hey

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Jackson, put him on hold? Will you get him back on hold?

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His phone's breaking up over there. I'm telling you there are certain things that

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just set me off. And in twenty twenty four, losing a cell phone

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signal drives me nuts. Did you notice the timing? Though we were negative,

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three were negative for ten straight pass and I asked negative. I asked

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him one positive question and he gets one word out of his mouth and it's

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gone. It's like it's it's like right, meant to be. It's not meant to be about this baseball? All right? We got him back.

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Steven Dick was asking about Bryce Miller. Man go ahead and jump in.

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Yeah, No, he just he's throwing it a lot more to Steamers.

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He's his fastball's elite, right. He does a good job getting behind it,

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and the splitter has been really good. So I think he was just

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trying to find after that first start away to mix them all together, and

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he's done a good job. He's got such confidence, he attacks his own

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and he's really been a stopper in these kind of tough series going forward,

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and I see him have a good year. Logan Gilbert's been great as well.

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Those two guys have been a bright spot. A makes this kind of

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drudgy start if you will. Yeah, Well, Steven Susan Junior is with

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us. So Jonathan Classe, twenty one year old from Dominican who spent last

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year in Arkansas and Everett's seventy nine stolen bases combined is getting to start in

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left field tonight. Give us your thoughts on what you think we'll see from

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this kid starting this evening. Then. Yeah, he's a little guy.

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He's five to nine, but he is fast, right, Like, I think he's graded out as like a seventy runner out of eighty. He can

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really really run and developed into some power. I think he kind of surprised

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everybody with the twenty seventy season that he put together first time since nineteen sixty

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one that anybody's ever done that in the minors. He's he's an exciting player

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and he's gonna bring a lot to the table. But he's also young and

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he's gonna make some mistakes still. He's still learning this game kind of like

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Julio was, and it is and so you're gonna take some of the good

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with the bad. So I think Jerry's looking to interject some energy into the

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lineup and put some more exciting players. You put him and Dylan and Julio

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and just trying to produce runs any way you can. But he's a great

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talent. He's the number ten prospect, number eight I think at the most

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this year, and you know they're hoping that he can really be a catalyst

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to this lineup. Do you like the timing because you know we've seen it before where guys come up and you know Jared Kellenk's perfect example. Do you

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like the timing of how quickly he's coming up and how young he is coming

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up? You know, for me personally, I like season in the in

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the minor leagues, like he hasn't had that much success at Triple A yet,

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although it was early, I really like Dominic cam'z own. I mean,

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it's unfortunate that he went down. He was having some really good at bats and really driving the ball in the yard. But you know, you

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got to do what you can with where you are in the standings. I

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mean it shows you they're they're taking this stuff seriously where they're at, and

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so they're calling up who they think is the best, has the best chance

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to be productive, and that's Jonathan Class steven susan junior with us on the

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air. Not sure if we've discussed this or not, but the Mariners a

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few weeks ago signed Dallas Kaikole down there in Tacoma. Would you make of

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that signing? And what does that mean that he's gonna be number six if

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there is another pitcher that goes down. Is he going to be a long

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reliever? What kind of impact do you see Dallas Kiko playing on this major

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league club? Yeah? I think you know, when Brian wu comes back,

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I think he'll probably be the seventh starter. Right Emerson Hancock has showed

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he's very valuable in that fifth starter role and giving quality innings. Listen,

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tackles. A veteran pitcher knows how to pitch. Know it's how to make

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spot starts. You know, something happens, you can trust Dallas in a

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pinch. I mean, he's a consummate professional. You know, the stuff isn't quite there. I know he went to drive Line, as everybody else

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in the world apparently is going. And he's made his stuff better right and

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got some v LO which they're good at doing. They're really good at doing,

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and helping his pitch hicks. So he is still working and trying to

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better himself, and he's had some really good results so far in Triple A

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in a hitters league, So I wouldn't be surprised if he made some really

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important starts for the Mariners this year. We were talking about this earlier on

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Today, and I sent a poll out last week about this. What pitcher

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would you want on the mount for the Mariners in a must win situation right

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now? Because that's really the question of who your ace is, right,

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your ace is the guy and if you could choose from anybody on your team,

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he would start a must win game. So who's your ace? I

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mean, is the game tomorrow? Yeah, the game is tomorrow, everybody's

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rested. Yeah, the games tomorrow, everybody's rested, and you got a

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winner. You're not in the playoffs. If the game is tomorrow, I'd

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go Logan Gilbert, Bryce Miller, George Kirby. Wow, really why?

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I just think Logan has a lot of pitches to offer. He's been really,

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really good. He faced a really good Milwaukee lineup. Bryce Miller's been

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solid. I just I want to see going into those moments. I need

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guys that have a little bit of time. Logan's got some time in the

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big LEAs he's acclimated played in the playoff. I need guys with big power

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stuff, and I need guys that are hot. Right. I know that George Kirby and Luis Casill are very capable of making that start, But if

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you're asking me that the start is tomorrow, those guys aren't rolling right now,

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right, and they would admit that to you, like they're not hot, they're not locked in. And I want those guys that whoever's gonna make

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that start, it would be Logan Gilbert because right now, to me,

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he's got the most pitches and he's got the most consistent starts so far this

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year. What do you make of this Reds team we're about to see And

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Frankie Montoss we know from his days with the A's obviously, but what do

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you make of the Big Red Machine circa twenty twenty four. Yeah, they're

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kind of opposite of them. They're young in the lineup, and they're exciting

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and they're energetic, they're fast. Elie day La Cruz is a great player

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who's you know, got off to a good start. They they hit the ball really well and they drive the ball out of the yard. They've made

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some improvements to their bullpen and added some guys in the winner, and so

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they're a little bit you know, they're taking a step forward and they're trying

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to make it a way to the playoffs and push down that door. And

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I think this is gonna be more of a challenge than it was in the

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past against the This is a good Reds team that is hungry, right and

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we know from the Mariners a couple of years ago, when you're hungry and you're young and you're talented, that's a tough team to overcome. So if

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the Mariners are gonna beat these guys, they got to pitch well. I mean, that's the bottom line. They got to pitch. Well, get

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these guys out, make sure Alie de la Cruz doesn't be a catalyst of

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the lineup, and they'll they'll come out with a series win. I got

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a couple just general baseball questions for you, Steve will start with this one.

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Another Angel Hernandez strike zone debacle this week, and he's got guys like

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Jeff Passing on ESPN saying that baseball should have a replay challenge system for balls

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and strikes basically due to the incompetence of Angel Hernandez. Mind the plate,

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man, if you watch that at that I think it was Wyatt Langford in

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Boston. Is that the one you're referring to. Yes, we're just outside,

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even more outside, even more outside strike three. I mean that was

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insane. You know, it's like a little bit okay, it happens a

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little bit more like all right, I'll give it to you, but not

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really. The last one is like, all right, what are you doing back there? Right? And these guys they're still the best in the world.

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But when you see something like that, it's it's crazy. Angel Hernandez

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is a really nice guy, and that's fantastic, But listen, these guys

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are grinding for these at bats and those pitches. We can't have that big

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of misses over and over and over again. And these guys are are so

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good, but not a lot of them do that right there, and that's

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just questionable. Along with the thing that happened in New York when he made

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up, he changed his whole statement with somebody hit the check swing halfway through

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the bat. It's just getting out of control with Angel, and I think

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it's time for baseball to move on from Angel Hernandez and bring in somebody else.

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All right, Steven sous Up, great stuff. We love you,

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I'm telling you, by this time next week, I'm calling it right now.

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Boys, by this time next week, the vibes will be good with

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this baseball team. Yeah, you're off, all right, it's gonna be

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different. I love it. We'll talk. I love it. Appreciated.

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Stephen Susan Junior with us courtesy at Taco time. We've got a break.

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I believe our ace reporter inside the Mariner Clubhouse will join us. That's Mike

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Benton. By the way of five forty five. Did you happen to hear

18:11

Caitlin Clark go on SNL on Saturday nights. If you missed it, We're

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gonna let you hear it next on ninety three three kJ R