Hour 4: Mariners Insider Shannon Drayer on the Young Players that Could Impact this Roster

Get in the freaking auto! From the Quantum Fiber Studio, this is Brock and Salk on Seattle Sports. I don't read the internet, guys. Take the bull by the hands. And Brooke Huard. Huard. And Brooke Huard. Now here are your hosts, Brock Huard and Mike Salk. And that fire! Well, one of the great things about being at Spring Training all week is Shannon just comes by. We don't have to get her on the phone or anything like that. She just walks by and then we just get to... I'm like Tucker. Like Tucker just floats, right? Thankfully, we don't need to bribe Shannon. Where are the treats? Where are the treats? She'd just come over to talk baseball with us. Shannon, how are you today? Good. Did you get a good four hours of baseball in yesterday afternoon? That was awful. It wasn't great. It wasn't ideal. It all started so promisingly. I know. I mean, you saw that lineup and you're all excited, and then that game never ends. And poor Cal Raleigh. He wanted to get seven innings behind the plate, and bless him, he stayed in for all seven. He was given the option to leave after six, like, no, I'm going to do this. And then afterwards, it's been a long time since he's been in a game that long in spring training or even seen that part of a spring training game. If you don't know, the regulars come out and they leave. They don't stay for all of this. They're two different games altogether, and he was just shaking his head afterwards. Yeah, chatting with a couple of the veteran guys, and they said, yeah, it's surprising that you get sore. But it's different. You do all this training, all this lifting, all this hitting, all of it, but actually playing the game and being out there and the intensity of it and the performance of it. Those quick movements, right? Isn't it that? And baseball has so many stop-to-start motions that I'm sure you can't help but get sore. Yep. I bet you Cal's probably a little sore today. What do you think? I would think so. Yeah. Salk was about to be sore when he caught that ball, that rock. I was going to make that catch. Oh, yeah. You didn't see the foul ball that broke the window? Dom's foul ball that screamed. So the window got in the way of you catching it? Yeah, pretty much. I was going to catch it. Pretty much. It was right at me. But it legitimately broke the window. It's crazy. I've never seen that. Have you ever seen that in a press box? Usually not because the glass on big league press boxes are shatterproof. I think this is too, and it's still shattered. Well, it didn't shatter. It splintered. It splintered. Spiderwebbed. Thankfully, nobody got hurt. No. But the window got damaged. So there's going to be a little damage here in about 10 minutes or so at the bullpen. Are you going to make your way over and watch Cade and Mr. Sloan? Yes, absolutely. I'm not sure if Anderson is throwing, but Sloan is. And he's just, to me, they've both been must-watch, must-talk-to, too, if you have the opportunity to. It's going to be really interesting because it is. I mean, we are getting all excited about this. It is just a practice field. It is just a bullpen. Even the live BPs really didn't mean anything. But the Mariners are just thrilled at where they're at right now and where they're starting at. And there seems to be a lot of confidence, if need be. One, if not both, could be available later this year. But this shows your stuff, right? I mean, this is with all the measurements. Yes. In everything. Yes, everything is there. Your chance kind of like on a driving range, like, yeah, man, here's my shots. Here's all the things I can do. Who was the last? Were you like this with Logan five years ago? Were you like this with Kirby five years ago? No, it's really different. Kirby is probably the closer comp for these two. Logan has been an evolving pitcher since the minute he hit this organization. And, you know, we're really in only in the last year or two as he really kind of stopped and this is who he is. So very different. You look at Sloan and Anderson. And, of course, Anderson's going to be a little bit further along as he's pitched in college, but his repertoire is his repertoire. It's complete. He's there. He knows what works. And, again, the things that you're talking about and you can measure everything, it is a little bit different now. You know what those pitches are immediately. And Sloan has been so impressive in that the changes that he has made, he's been able to do really quickly. I mean, he's only a year in the organization. Is he 20? He just turned 20. And so for them, it's a little bit different, and they both have very good command. So that's kind of where the George comp comes in, that they've got four polished pitches, they've got command of it. Whereas a Logan was somebody who was changing things, adding things, subtracting things. And we saw him at that age, he still had that big, loopy, goofy curveball, and he would end up bringing that back at some point. So different evolution altogether. Sloan is younger than Macy. Yeah, sure. How's that possible? Well, it just is. What are we doing? I don't know what to tell you. Baseball is bizarre, man. Shannon, who have you gotten to know? Who have you enjoyed talking to so far this year? You know, it's been kind of a quick hit with a lot of guys because it's such a big camp. And then this is the first year where you really, it seems like you're paying a lot more attention to the new guys. And it kind of blows you away. And this is, I think, a couple of us are working on pieces about this right now. But the baseball acumen of this group, I think, has just gone up exponentially. with the additions that they have made this year, the conversations that you're hearing from them as individuals. I talked to Jerry DePoto yesterday, and he said, yeah, I mean, it's not uncommon now to see Donovan and Ref Snyder the last two to leave the cages every day. They're rats, basically. And what a great addition to have to that. And, you know, a guy like Ref Snyder, and they're kind of opposite in that Donovan has only been a St. Louis Cardinal, and Ref Snyder has moved around quite a bit. And in doing that, he's learned quite a bit. I mean, he knew our names before we knew his almost. So he wanted to know who the media were. He wanted to know who the people were that he was going to be seeing every day. And one of the things that just blew me away about talking to him is he's a real student. He knows what his job is. It's to hit lefties. So he studied great right-handed hitters. And he started telling us everything that Edgar did back in the day. And he wasn't old enough to be watching that at that time. So it was somebody who truly went back and studied that kind of thing. Studied their craft. Kind of like Shannon does down here. Like, she's in. You could feel Shannon mode, huh? Like, just the pro. Just in. Like, you get settled here last week. Get your boots on the ground. And now you're just in the rhythm. And you're covering, for the first time in your career, you're covering a team that nobody ducks from realistic championship expectations. No, it's being embraced right now. It is an expectation, period. Which, I've never seen that before. You're right. Are you comfortable with this? Or is your little Pacific Northwest? No, I am. I'm enjoying it. I am. Because you do look around. To me, this team feels more complete, more veteran, more not just veteran, but tested. You know, they went through last year. Oh, look, look out, look out, look out. Oh, yeah. They almost got us. Yeah. Lisa was on the ground slowly rolling. We had a chance. We had a chance. He didn't have to throw himself in front of this one. There's no glass to be spidered or anything. Yeah. No. It just, to me, is completely different, and it is, why not? And there have been years where we've come in here in the national media, but, oh, this is a great club, and it's going to do this, and it's just like they're blowing up too much. And I think that was because a lot of it was, well, the pitching was great, and there might be one or two stars. Now you look at the whole roster, and it's just a different story. With waves of youngsters, like the one you're going to watch here in just a couple minutes, with those waves of youngsters also not five years off. not three years off. We've said this before, I'll say it again. This is why you do a rebuild. This is why you step back or rebuild or whatever phrase you like so that you can have a complete organization. A team that is contending at the top, has fill-ins ready to go at the high levels of the minors who are ready to step in and take a role when necessary and has prospects at the low levels that can be used to acquire other people and sustain those. This is literally why you did the step back and one of the blessings and curses and correct me if i'm wrong both of you on this but one of the blessings and curses of baseball is it takes five years like somebody told me the colorado rockies took a little longer are five or six years away from competing i'm like oh come on the colorado rockies might be 20 years away from competing i mean they're that far behind in scouting in development in farm system in program like they're that far behind Yeah. Like the NFL, you can turn things in one year. The Patriots won four games and we're in the Super Bowl. What's pretty cool that I've noticed this year is you want it to be cyclical. I mean, you want to sustain. And last year they did not have that young pitcher to bring up. This year they should have two. So they flipped it around. And the other thing that is really standing out, and I think we'll see it more as the next couple of weeks go on, we're seeing really solid at-bats from the young hitters that are in the minors right now. I mean, across the board. It's pretty eye-opening. Shannon, thank you. Good to catch up with you, however briefly today. We'll let you get on your way because I know you want to go watch Ryan Sloan and everybody else who's throwing this morning. We've got Brian Wu on the mound. What? Oh, today, yes. Today. Bryce Miller, I think, tomorrow. We do. So, yeah. I'm just saying, like, if there was any kind of feels like this might be the order of the rotation. I know that Dan's not giving that away. and Amsinger came in here yesterday and was like, I think Brian Wu's your obvious opening day starter. I was like, I don't know. Sure feels like it's going to be Logan Gilbert again, right? I would think so. Yeah, I would think so, too. Thanks, Shannon. Talk to you later. The great Shannon Dreyer, our Mariners insider, and truly a joy to talk to every day. One of the great things about being down here is just who walks by and always great to see and chat with Shannon. All right. I think Divish is going to probably, well, all these guys aren't, but isn't today the day that maybe Divish ranks? I thought maybe Divish would rank because tomorrow, So my dad's going to be here, and we'll have to talk trash to him. And then Friday, nobody's here because we'll have everything on tape. Well, we'll be here, but a lot of the interviews will be on tape because they've got a night game, so nobody's going to be here in the morning. So why don't we ask Divish if he wants to come by at 945? I don't think we're going to get Ryan Sloan today. That is out based on the timing. So hang on. We'll give you guys everything you need to know next. It's Brock and Salk, Seattle Sports on 710 and the Seattle Sports app. It's spring training and it's perfect time to take a swing at Toyota of Kirkland and Toyota of Renton on a new 2026 Tacoma at both stores, lease the Tacoma for 309 a month for 36 months with 39 99 due at signing or finance with 2.99% APR for 48 months. Like spring training, Toyota of Renton and Kirkland have standard opportunities with new prospects, except their prospects are vehicles that you test drive. They're not ballplayers, but Hey, whether you're in the North or the South, they got you covered. This is a toyotofkirkland.com and toyotofrenton.com offers out through March 2nd, 2026 on approved credit through TFS, Excludes taxes, titles, license, dealers, accessories, and a $200 negotiable dealer documentation. Model 7540. Highlights don't win games. The full box score does. I'm Brock Huard, and most business leaders aren't short on data. They're short on clarity. Numbers are scattered across ERPs, CRMs, and spreadsheets, making decisions reactive instead of confident. And that's not how great businesses are built. Marquee IQ brings all your data together into one clear view, even if it lives in disconnected systems or offline, so you can see what's really happening and act faster. or stop running your business on highlights, get the full picture. Visit data that wins.com to see what marquee IQ can do. When you're running the hurry up and don't have time for your favorite Seattle sports shows, listen to the podcast on demand. How about that? Unbelievable. What a thought Every hour every interview every look behind the scenes He is your new Seahawks head coach Mike McDonald We want to play a certain way and you just going to chisel away at it every day Find us on seattlesports the Seattle Sports app or wherever you get podcasts All signs continue to point to it being the right hire. Never miss a minute of Seattle Sports, the home of the Seahawks. Need to know. 15 minutes past every hour with Brock and Salk. Presented by Marquee Data. Here's what you need to know. Up first. Well, we do have a lineup for today. Mariner spring training game in surprise against the Kansas City Royals. It's not quite what yesterday was, but you still get some regulars in there. We'll see Victor Robles lead off. He'll play center field today, so get a little opportunity to run around out there. Rob Refsnyder will be in right. Josh Naylor's de-aging. Then Patrick Wisdom, who's back in town. He's the first baseman. And Masturbone in the left. Kisner, not Knizner. Kisner is the catcher. Pretty athletic play he made the other day, huh? He's an athlete. Cole Young at second. Leo Rivas at short. And Will Wilson is at third. You guys may not be familiar with the name Will Wilson. He's not a huge name. But he was a number 15 pick a few years ago for the Angels. I think it was 2019. 15th overall. You know who's picked the pick after him? I don't. Corbin Carroll. He was picked one spot before Corbin Carroll. Now, that does not speak well for the Angels and their scouting department. No, I think they got that one wrong. But it does at least tell you that this is a kid with some level of talent. He's playing a little third base, and we'll see what he does out there. Brian Wu will be on the hill for the first time. Yeah, that will be great to see. And just, again, more and more data points. You guys are going to enjoy the conversation. We taped it with Justin Hollander. Maybe we'll play that tomorrow or Friday. Yeah, probably Friday. You'll just enjoy it. And, you know, it's like you read off all of those names. And, I mean, that's a lot of depth. Yeah, it's a lot of pieces. It's a lot of, well, if this doesn't quite go right or this guy were to get injured or we were to go in this direction, you know, like it just gives you, man, so many pieces on this chessboard that over 162 or over 185 that they're going to need and we know they're going to need over the course of the year. Well, one name that we've been talking about really throughout the day is Brendan Donovan. He led off yesterday, had a couple of hits, had one really long at bat. It really was what you envisioned with him coming over here to hit leadoff. Cut seven, Jerry DiPoto explains why they wanted to go after this guy to begin with. Well, you know, I think the biggest thing with Donnie is just his baseball IQ. The way he goes about playing the game is just pro all the way. It's high contact, elite back-to-ball skills. his ability to move the game. And we felt like the missing ingredient for us was that on-base percentage type presence at the top of our order. And Brennan brings that. He's been like a metronome of consistency in getting on base. And the other thing that really appealed to us with Donnie is his versatility defensively. You know, in addition to aspiring to go win a World Series this year, we really like the upper levels of our farm system and feel great about some of the infielders who are beating down on our roster. And Donnie's versatility allows us to introduce or implement those players when they're ready instead of forcing them in early or having to go to them late. He just gives us a professional presence. Sure does. And that high on-base percentage, exactly what's needed to set the table for what's behind. Here's the second thing you need to know. All right, John Schneider, Mike McDonald, Everybody at the Combine today. Brock, really all this week. Still nobody working out. That really didn't start until tomorrow. But everyone's meeting with the media and having conversations and checking on free agents and all of that. You know what else comes out today? All the measurements that I just love. Hand size, body fat, length. What did you say Titus' hand size was? Pretty big, man. Like 10, a little over 10 and a half. What are you? A little less than that. So he's got bigger hands than you. He does. That's absurd. And Garrett. Nobody should have bigger hands. Garrett Nessmeyer's got eight and three-eighths-inch hands. Yeah, that's not going to do it. That's not going to work. You know who else is there? Daniel Jeremiah is there. Yeah? He is at the podium today. Moore's got some breaking news on this, Salk. What is that? Breaking news. Our friend Hawkbogger tagged us in a tweet and said, surprising to hear Daniel Jeremiah give a full scouting report on Brock Heward and Mike Salk here at the Combine. Apparently, he said he believes Salk has hamstring concerns that could impact his testing. Sure. I'm wrong Did you say anything about Brock? He just took a shot at me? That's all Hawk blogger Son of a gun I'm actually the healthier Well it does make sense And maybe Brock The fact that I'm being scouted Speaks to the strength Of the 2026 draft class Cut nine John Schneider doesn't sound Overly impressed with the depth You know you have to You have to evaluate every class And so we evaluated this class As okay well 25 is going to be stronger Than 26 27 maybe stronger than And it's not the individual players, it's kind of the collective, like the whole group. So that's why you saw us make some of the decisions we made. Yeah, read between the lines. We gave up a fourth and fifth for Shahid because after the top 100 of this draft, it falls off a cliff. Here's the third thing you need to know. Just throwing a little hockey in there. A couple small moves by the Kraken yesterday. They sign up both Ben Myers and Ryan Winterton to multi-year deal. So a couple of guys who are going to be bottom six forwards, but Winterton is a pretty good defensive player. He gets after it. He's a pretty quick player. And Myers has played center. He's played some wing. I kind of like his game. It's a little heavy at times. I like them both with Molanson out there as well. So yeah, I like it. Two young guys who get rewarded for coming up and having a really good season so far. And we'll get to see the Kraken tonight. That's for sure. They're in Dallas to get the second part of the season going, and then they are back-to-back tomorrow night in St. Louis. That is everything you need to know. Quarter past every hour here on the Brock and Salt Show. Hamstring concerns, huh? Yeah, I think that's valid, right? Yeah, I mean, it's an old injury. I mean, you're not blind in one eye. Thankfully. I mean, like the poor guy for the Jets. Thankfully. That they drafted. Yeah, now the vision is going for anything right in front of me. I mean, that's clear. Yeah, me too. Yeah, that's not what it used to be, leading to this constant back and forth between the sunglasses and the readers while we're sitting here. That's okay. A constant back and forth. Did you confirm, by the way, for 20 minutes from now? It does sound like Ryan Divish is going to come by and rank some of his things that make him most happy. I think Barnes, we've got to track Barnes. Barnes has got to be a part of that. You think so? Yeah. Ranking is what you guys did. Yeah. You know, it's in your DNA. I think so. It's what you and Justin do best. He'll be back for it. He gets the guests on video, I told him. Oh, great. Hi, Tucker. Hi, Tucker. You're just kind of walking, wandering right through this out here. I feel like Tucker likes me more than you. I don't blame him. He knows all the shots. You know who I met yesterday? Who do you meet? Josh Naylor's baby. Yeah, cutie. Really cute baby. And his wife. If you remember last year, he didn't want to say whether it was a boy or a girl. He said it was private, so I'm not going to go into any detail. But really cute baby. Looks a lot like Josh. Yep. And his wife was delightful. Talked to her for a couple of minutes. Just an incredibly engaging, nice person. And I realized it was right after we had taped with Logan. and we were sort of having fun with him being a new dad. I was like, you know what? I do kind of like babies. Just not my, I don't need another one. I don't want to take it home at the end of the day. Sure. But like having a baby, like they're cute. They're really cute. You can hold them for a minute. I didn't, but you could. And you know, that's cute. Taking it home and having a cry while you're trying to sleep. Not cute. Not fun at all. We'll be right back. And Divish will join us here in about 20. Brock and Salk, Seattle Sports on 710. Highlights don't win games. The full box score does. I'm Brock Heward, and most business leaders aren't short on data. They're short on clarity. Numbers are scattered across ERPs, CRMs, and spreadsheets, making decisions reactive instead of confident. And that's not how great businesses are built. Marquee IQ brings all your data together into one clear view, even if it lives in disconnected systems or offline, so you can see what's really happening and act faster. Stop running your business on highlights. Get the full picture. Visit datathatwins.com to see what Marquee IQ can do. It's spring training, and it's the perfect time to take a swing at Toyota of Kirkland and Toyota of Renton on a new 2026 Tacoma. At both stores, lease the Tacoma for $309 a month for 36 months with $39.99 due at signing. We're financed with 2.99% APR for 48 months. Like spring training, Toyota of Renton and Kirkland have standard opportunities with new prospects, except their prospects are vehicles that you test drive. They're not ballplayers. But hey, whether you're in the north or the south, they got you covered. Visit ToyotaofKirkland.com and ToyotaofRenton.com. Offers will out through March 2nd, 2026. On approved credit through TFS. Excludes taxes, titles, license, dealers, accessories, and a $200 negotiable dealer documentation. Model 7540. Oh, Brian. When you're running the hurry up and don't have time for your favorite Seattle sports shows, listen to the podcast on demand. How about that? Unbelievable. What a thought. Every hour, every interview, every look behind the scenes. He is your new Seahawks head coach, Mike McDonald. We want to play a certain way, and you're just going to chisel away at it every day. Find us on seattlesports.com, the Seattle Sports app, or wherever you get podcasts. All signs continue to point to it being the right hire. Never miss a minute of Seattle Sports, the home of the Seahawks. From the Quantum Fiber Studio, you're listening to Brock and Saul. Weekdays 6 to 10 on Seattle Sports and 97.3 FM HD 2. I hate when these days start to end, man. It's just so fun. It's just so fun being this break training. I love it. I know Shannon was giving me grief and saying I'm the happiest person in the world this week. and you've been making fun of me, but it really is true. I do just love this. The games, eh, I like the games, but if I didn't go to any of the spring training games, it would not bother me. I don't need to go to the games in order to enjoy this. It's this. This is what I like. It's all the preparation, all the conversation, all the just kind of inside, right? You're just feeling the team around you, the bullpens and the hitters and the workout and them eating, just all of it, just feeling the vibe of the team. And I think you get a much better sense of it here inside the facility between, let's call it 6 a.m. and noon when we end up walking over to the games. I love it. This is the part that I truly feel is so valuable to just get myself psyched for what's to come. Well, and the really neat thing, and we have said this for a lot of years now, that it's kind of come to fruition. And you see the fruit being born of these young players that emerge. And when they're homegrown and you've planted them and you've cultivated them, Salk, and then like a fine wine, man, you get to see the fruit of it. I'm just standing over there in the break and standing with Shannon right in front of us, Dan Wilson. and I'm literally, I don't know, five feet from me to Mora watching Sloan bullpen and watching him work And what you hear of like this isn just a young guy going through the motions he calling out the counts he got an intensity and then you watch the stuff and i think those were all off speed pitches so this wasn't even the 98 99 and uh you know shannon whispered to me paint like he's just painting yeah right the different quadrants of what he is trying to isn't that what cal told us i don't know if we have that it was i'm sure cut it and we didn't ask for it so if brady could find it that would be awesome but you remember cal saying to us a couple days ago that he the young what impressed him about the young pitchers was that they had a purpose and those two in particular that those two guys could put the ball where they wanted to with a purpose it wasn't just throwing strikes it was i want to go here i want to go there they had a purpose and a conviction to what it was they wanted to do on virtually every pitch when salk steps up to a tee today. I'm not saying where he's playing because he doesn't like the paparazzi there and everything. So when he steps up to a tee, his swing thought and his sole thought will be put the ball in play. Hit it down the middle. When a pro golfer or a very good stick walks up to, they will look at the lie. They will look at the shot they want to hit, how they want to shape that shot, which you've got to say very carefully there which is why i slowly went through that alliteration again how they shape it do i want to hit a cut do i want to hit this right that that video that we watched tommy fleetwood hit the same ball from the same spot 13 different ways you've got one way yeah a lot of young pitchers have like especially probably in front of evaluators and every their peers like throw strikes they're hard throw it hard throw strike these guys are shaping and you could see that even that little demonstration right there yeah he's throwing his different and then eventually having and approach and a plan and a strategy behind when they want to throw that stuff and how they use one thing to get another thing done. We heard Logan Gilbert tell us that he was working on a cutter this year. Why? Specifically for when he was behind in counts. I mean, that's ultimately where they get to as they get older. You use the golf analogy. I always think, for me, I always think about pool, billiards, pool. I always think, you know, any jamoke like me who goes out there and plays pool, I'm just trying to use the white ball to hit the ball into the pocket. But an actual pool player, they're worried about the spin they're putting on the cue ball to make sure that the next shot is set up from the spot they want it to be. It is a completely different game that they're playing from anybody else. But they know the ball's going in. That's not even a question. It's just where am I going to leave the cue ball for the next shot. No, I think you're right. That is one of the things. By the way, what if you spill on your breast? Oh, that would be your coffee. Excuse me? That's your coffee. So this morning, I went and grabbed coffee for everybody. I have every day, which is fine. You pick up Justin and Mora, and I run over to the coffee shop and grab, and everyone's got a thing. You kind of look sloppy. Well, it's yours. So Mora gets a grande ice latte every day. Nothing in it. Just a grande ice latte. That's easy. Yeah. And I know, because I'm going to put these three drinks in a holder, and I know that when I put them in the front seat, it's going to angle back a little bit. So I always angle Morris because you can't put a stopper in it. I always angle it so I know it's going to be sticking up so that the coffee kind of runs away from it. And I get every day a Grande London Fog with only two pumps of vanilla because otherwise it's disgustingly sweet with four. And I like my Earl Grey tea, so I do that. And I put a little stopper in. It's fine. No problems. and then you get this gigantic venti triple shot espresso blonde almond milk stevia all this stuff it is the longest order of anything i've ever heard it takes an hour and a half for me to do it on the app just to get it ready great and by the way each day i've shown up yeah mine's ready yeah morris is ready and they're like oh no we're working on the other one because it takes actually a whole team of baristas to get Brock's order right. So they have to call in reinforcements from outside. And they come in and they're like, oh, whoa, I've never seen this. Let me see if I can find the this and the that. Anyway, so then stick a little stopper in it. Yours has coffee everywhere. It comes out of the stopper. It's flopping around. You know, there's that little teeny hole at the very top. It comes pouring out of there. It's in the steam out. And it ended up going on my shirt. All over your hood. Not my stuff, not Maura's stuff, your stuff. While you were driving, it sprayed on you like that? No, while I was just walking back to the car. It like popped up. It was like a dolphin jumping out of the water. Great. It was breaching. Yeah. It breached onto me. Would you like me to get you a little paper towel and some water and wipe that thing off before you play with three strangers today? Do I care? Not really. Not really. I don't really care. What do I care? No. I don't care. But anyway, yeah, that's what I'm – all right, you want one more thing before Divish comes in here? Okay. Something we have not talked about. Oddly. Usually this is a conversation. Identity? No. Culture? No. Model? No. Process? We've talked about all those things. We're three days into this, Brock. Uh-huh. We've almost never even mentioned the bullpen. Isn't that weird? I mean, not zero, but it has not been a topic. Okay. Talked a lot about the improvement. Pause for just a second. All right. Okay. I got to confess something. Oh, jeez. Along those lines. All right. Every day he's walked by. Every day he's walked by us. He's pretty early here in the morning. Every day he's super sweet. He dropped a ball like a cookie crumb to Jake, Cecily's friend, the other day. Just a super classy move. Jake was sitting in the chairs over there. He could see he had a glove. And he just dropped and rolled a ball to him. It was so sweet. Bizarro. And every day he's walked by. And there's a piece of me that feels so stinking bad for that guy. and and he doesn't carry it and no one's even mentioned this this is my own little probably projecting too of my five interception apple cup or some of my failed moments where you know like you just and every day he walks by and i just kind of feel a little empathy for him and he's way past it i'm sure right he's not walking in here thinking about it he emptied the tank he was in the arena competing but honestly like every day there's a little piece of me that just every time he walks by and i bet fans will feel the same when he steps on the mound for the first time and you see him and it's not a judgment there's no bitterness there's none of that there's just a little bit like dang i feel bad they're put in that spot right that that slider just caught enough of it that just gave up that shot yeah it's funny i i don't i hadn't even thought of that you haven't thought of it at all no because i i to me you won't remember this and this is going back so long and nobody cares but after tim wakefield gave up the the game-winning home run to uh to aaron boone yeah he thought afterwards oh my god i'm bill buckner everyone's gonna hate me forever and nobody did nobody thought about it he never should have been in that position nobody even thought about it for a second he was never to blame he had done everything right and had given his all and everyone's like yeah they never should have been there i think it's kind of the same thing well for you it is for a lot of fans i think for differing fans and differing degrees of responsibility and all of that i think honestly i think it's funny it had never dawned on me to to feel that way about him yeah i mean and again this is not like oh there's no you're competitor man that's what happens yeah you go play the game and you do your job and he and frankly in many ways they wouldn't have been there without him yeah you know and that's why i kind of took the under on him for innings this year i just i look at it and say look he exceeded everybody's expectations last year he was amazing went from being the guy we were calling the white flag at the end of games to being a crucial, crucial difference maker, leverage guy all year long. In big moment, in big moment, in big moment. Absolutely. And they're chased to win 17 of 18 to win the division. You do it one year? You got to do it for more than one in a row before you start to earn that automatic like, oh yeah, no, this guy's a dude. You got to do it for a couple of years. And then you say, OK, he's now done it consistently because we've seen the ups and downs of kind of one hit wonder relievers. So there's a chance that happens. I have no idea what it's going to be. I hope it doesn't. There's also, you know, he pitched a lot last year. A lot. And I want to make sure that, A, there's no after effect of that this year. Because we know what happened to Brash after he pitched a lot. Yep, after he was the innings leader. Yep. Blows out the arm the next year. So you want to be really careful. And then I want to make sure that he's not exhausted by the time you get to the postseason. If he is great again, and if he is able to stay healthy throughout the whole year, I want to make sure that you're getting the best version of healthy and not tired Edward Bizzardo. I appreciate that he bounces back very quickly, and that's a great weapon to have. But, yeah, like, I don't know. So I've just been thinking a little bit about the bullpen. I like the bullpen a lot. I think Munoz is – we barely mentioned his name. It's funny. When you said super nice guy who tossed him a ball, my mind went to Munoz because I didn't see it. Because he could be on that list too. He is one of the nicest dudes you'll ever meet. here um brash is a great dude and also a great pitcher excited about ferrer and you know love what you got from spire in the bounce back last year you know is there even really a spot open for competition in this bullpen is there a surprise guy that is maybe going to make this pen at the end we're gonna be like oh i never even considered that well you know and i know and ryan divish is going to join us in second knows that there's going to be a surprise there There always is. There is, just like Bizarro was. Just like for some reason this organization cultivates that spot as much as anybody from Stuck and Ryder to Seawall to go through the list. Like somebody is going to pleasantly surprise over the course of the year. But going into it, I don't know. Yeah. I mean, the bullpen looks stacked. Yeah. It gives you a lot of options. It's just one of the reasons. Everyone keeps looking at the team and saying, this looks great. This looks great. It's almost like a doctor. It's almost like 26. You go in for your physical, and they've got their checklist. Let's look in the eyes. Let's look in the nose. Let's listen in your ears. Let's take out the stethoscope. And you're kind of doing that to this roster, and you're like, okay, let's look at the leadoff spot on the on-base. Okay, let's see. Yeah, you've got superstars. Hey, let me check and see if you have lineup depth. Oh, yep, you've got some of that. Hey, how are you against righties? How are you against lefties? What is your pitching stat? Each thing, the doctor just kind of like check, check, check, check, over and over again. And the bullpen, I think you would put right onto that list of things that have been certainly trending in the right direction and don't look like a concern. If anything, it looks like a strength heading into the year. Okay, are we ready to do this? Divish is feverishly taking notes. I think he's ready. I like that little, that's my kind of world right there. He's got a little pen to paper. Do we have music? Do we have ranked music? Back from the... Got a list? Time to put it in order. Fred Dwan for his house. Top five top five meals that I have ever had This is rant To be honest their list was really biased Every morning at 9 on Brock and Salk I not dying yet Ranked. Maura, does that just sound good? Don't you just love your eyes? This is when Maura takes her headset off, gives it to Justin. Yeah, you can get out of this. No, Justin. Justin's busy. Justin, we're ranking. That's the most angry I've ever seen Justin. I know. You look like my dad the other night. What are you doing? I'm trying to make sure that, you know, our stream's up and running and running, so I'm doing some technical stuff. You look like my dad when we weren't talking during his conference call and he started screaming at us not to talk. I can't! I can't! Don't talk! I'm just happy to be here with Dennis. Nobody's talking. Good to see you. Jeez. Wow. There was one year with the Zoom calls. I couldn't get my Zoom to work right, and I was trying to ask questions, and I finally just flung my headphones. And Scott Service just started laughing. He could not, like, stop laughing. He just fired my headphones in the press box and just threw them at the wall. Yeah. That sounds about right. Man, that T-shirt looks good. Isn't that old school? Yeah. Copper and gold. It's so good. It's so good. You're watching on the stream. He's wearing the Montana Grizz. Copper and gold. I know you're going to rank here in a moment. Is there any open spot on this bullpen? Or is it pretty well set? I was looking one. One spot. Casey Legamina's spot. And that's his to lose. And who else is vying for that? Nobody. Everybody. Yeah. I haven't seen anybody that's, like, really established themselves. You know, I think with Troy Taylor, he has the talent, but he just hasn't been consistent. And then, like, Hoppy and Ludus and all these guys, they throw really hard. They just don't throw enough strikes. I mean, you come down here and you want to get on this team, you better throw strikes and you better throw first-bit strikes or you're not getting on the team. Yeah. I mean, Carlos Vargas did because of not having an option, and he started to get better. But a lot of people thought he wasn't going to make the team. I like that. I like that. All right, so Ryan Divish, noted grump, noted pessimist. Last year, two years ago, that he did his five things he hates. Most, yeah. And that was an easy list. I could have, you know. The hard thing for him was narrowing it to five things that he hates. But he's kind of a new Ryan Divish. He's engaged. He took his time off last year. Love is in the air. He's so much happier, well, not more patient, but happier than he ever was. Yes. And so today he really – He's got to take a sabbatical. I know. He's got to coach up his stepson. He's going to be playing at Menachee Valley. His stepdaughter is going to be running track for the Cats. I don't love that. No, I understand. But five things you love? Yeah, I got some honorable mention real quick. Yes, you should. Inside jokes are of this show because I will text in about Lyle being stupid. Look at him. And unaware. Not stupid, just unaware. Unaware. Just uneducated. And like intentionally unaware is what we call it. Look at him. I mean, when he didn't know the Ninja Turtles or the Sistine Chapel, you kind of hinted that he might be stupid. He apparently doesn't know Sunblock, despite going to Arizona State, too. Truly amazing. All right. And then the Mora fingers and you being furry and Brock's five head. Sure. You know, those are good. The fingers aren't long, though, aren't they? I mean, she's typing in her computers across the room. She's like that goblin fingers. Goblin fingers. The yogurt structure. that Jason Vargas thought had Goblin games. Other honorable mention, pitch clock. Thankful. Yesterday would have been awful. The game in Goodyear, we would be still sitting there. 240 pitches. The anti-Miguel Batista thing, the pitch clock. On another honorable mention, you think it would be higher, whiskey? Yeah. Whiskey. Whiskey didn't crack your top. Are you a rye? Are you a bourbon? What are you? I'm a rye or a blend. Japanese whiskey. I thought you were a crown royal. I do crown. Oh, okay. But I love it. Yeah, Japanese blended whiskey. It's amazing. You ever had Japanese? I have some in my house. You do? It's great. A couple bottles. So those are the honorable mention. Obviously. Yeah. Number five. Number five. Food at spring training. Leo's Island Barbecue. You know, Culver's walleye sandwich moving up there on the list. Yeah, so I got grief. I always get grief about this whole Culver's thing because I love the walleye. How many of them did you have the other day? I had two in one sitting. I have not done that. I would like to be very clear. I have never had two in one sitting. So he said that, and I was trying to make him feel better and told him what I got, and then I felt judged. Yeah, because no one was here. I had a burger and cheese curds and a small concrete mixture. And I have the best metabolism ever. I did all that, and nothing happened. Oh, shut up. I go to the gym every day. Yeah, whatever. That has nothing to do with it. I'm not going to lie. I didn't feel great afterwards. It's like when you go to a Brazilian steakhouse. When you leave, I just don't feel good. A full good chow. You know, yeah. Like Leo's. Swole in the next day. Oh, Leo's is Hawaiian barbecue. What's the order? Leo's. There's a place on. What do you get at Leo's? I get the chicken combo, katsu, and then the barbecue chicken. No vegetables. Obviously. And you get extra mac salad. And then a Spamasubi. I like that. There's a taco place you guys got to try called Sonoran, jalapeno Sonoran. And they do these carne asada tacos with hatch green chilies and melted pepper jack cheese. Yes, please. Oh, my God. Okay. I ate six the other day. I looked it up after you said that, and I was like, you know it's good because that's like all that's on the menu. They don't do anything else. Also, what do they call? Sonoran jalapenos. Jalapeno Sonoran. You know it's good because it's in a strip mall with an Asian massage parlor, a vape shop, and then a convenience store. Isn't that every? I mean, it's Arizona. That's just every corner. It's amazing. The food parlor. Food is number five. Food is number five. I mean, I'm not a Bianco fan. I'm like Goldie and those guys. Bianca's pretty good. It's all right. There's Tommy's Pizza, I guess. That's the new hot thing. Bianca's pretty good. Number four. Number four, athleisure wear. Oh. Oh, my gosh. Now you're talking garage. Garage. I mean, as somebody who refuses to wear pants down here and wears shorts every day, no matter what, you can wear the Lulu ABC shorts, whatever you are, and you can work out in them, and you can wear them. Yeah. I mean, and then also just like the joggers. What do you think of Salk's bright blue that he's wearing on the horse today? Yeah. I don't agree. That guy? You don't have a bad birdie hat, do you? No. I hate those hats. No. That's what I'm wearing. It's in a hat. I figured you were sponsored by, like, I don't know, somebody. Travis Matthew. Yeah, generally. Travis Matthew guy. Well, with his breasts. Oh, my gosh. Oh, dear God. There's something I really don't like. Why is he doing this again? Adam Jude walking by in full catcher's gear and uniform. He's like one of those shaggers that's in a uniform out there. I thought that was a one and done. Yeah, the one was cool for a story. The second one is look at me. Now it's feeling like. Kind of look at me, guy. Yeah. Yeah, jeez. I don't like that. Okay. Okay, here's where the music quotient comes. All right, number three. Wait, number three? Number three. When you come in in the morning and Cal Raleigh has his playlist on. Because it's all kind of old school, all country. There was Red Clay Straits the other day, Turnpike Troubadours. That's Kyle's favorite. Oh, man. Turnpike Troubadours, the one I wanted, Heaven Passing Through. It's a good song. Is this your... Is this the wedding? What are we doing? Words just could be avoided. I was going to come out to the outfield, Your Love, but I mean, like my college walk-up song. My backup college walk-up song was Asia, Heat of the Moment. It was a heat. Yeah, that's a good one. Yeah, I want that. Music's number three. I mean, but honestly. Asia and Kansas are very similar. Very similar bands. I know it was tweeted out, but we were watching the Super Bowl and people are asking, I don't know any of these songs. I'm like, man, you go into a baseball clubhouse. I've heard enough bad money in my life. I know them all. Yeah, I bet. Look at me, guy. Look at me coming over to sit down next to us. Wow. I'm surprised he's not here in front of the camera. Right. Look at me, guy. Look at me. Again, his children just not impressed. Okay, number two. Number two, the fact that I don't cover the Angels, Dodgers, Astros, or a lot of other teams. Okay, if you're covering the Angels, and I've covered a lot of bad teams in this organization. I've come in when there's been no hope. Yeah. But, like, not only are they bad, they don't seem to have a plan. Their owner is a moron. Yeah. And they make things difficult on themselves. They're, like, actively bad. And they're actively like a PR nightmare, everything they do. Yeah. Like, they make everything difficult. Can you tell me how it came to be that the White Sox and the Dodgers would share a facility? Yeah. Well, it's like their minor league program for them. I would guess. I don't know. But I would guess the Dodgers built a facility and the White Sox are like, hey, can we mooch off that? Yeah. Embarrassing. Subletting the facility. Hey, do you guys have like an ADU we could use in the back? We'll just rent. But like, honestly, like the Dodgers with Otani and all the stars and those guys don't talk a lot. It just looks miserable. Like the morning meetings with Dave Roberts are a minimum of 75 people. I mean, I've been there. I was around the Red Sox in 2008 or 6, 7, 8. And it is hard. I mean, like there's so many. It is hard to cover. It's fun to watch. I used to think I'd want to cover the Red Sox, and then when you get there and you watch it, because it's never about baseball. It's about the soap opera. And then you've got EEI and all those guys, too. That was number two. All right, what's number one? Down to it. We've got to get out of here. It's pretty simple. Tuck or drop by. Dogs. Dogs are number one. I mean, like, you've got a French Bulldog. My parents got a yellow lab named Sonny that destroys everything. Just chewed up my stepson's Yeezy sandals. So how much is that going to cost me? A lot. Are those expensive Yeezy slides? Hold on. I would assume. I'm sure Lyle knows that. Lyle, how much for Yeezy Slides? Yeah. 500? 500? Wow. Wow. I mean, Lyle doesn't know who said the Gettysburg Address, but he knows how much Yeezy Slides. Lyle, who gave the Gettysburg Address? You literally don't know. Oh. Nice work, buddy. Way to go. Nice work. You are in love. We can feel it. You can feel the love. You feel the love. Honestly, it is. I've said this before. This team is the easiest team I've ever covered. They're the biggest collection of good dudes. And, like, the respect level they hold for us. And, like, the respect level I have watching them work, knowing what I watched before, you know, they're the antithesis of Sean Figgins and Richie Sexton and, you know, all those guys. And that's, I think for Mariners fans, they should be excited. That's pretty cool. These guys work. That's a really nice compliment from a guy who does not give them out that often. I would just like to note that when you guys were nearing the end, Justin's like, they only have one minute left and they haven't gone to the top. I'm like, that's how you guys always did rich. Yeah, Justin, we know. Let's do it tomorrow. We got time off. Do it tomorrow. My dad's going to be here tomorrow. Oh, Larry's song. Larry's song. I thought my dad might be in your top five. Is he ranking tomorrow? No, he says he's done with ranking. Wow, diva. No kidding. No kidding. Thank you, Ryan. Ryan Davis, Seattle Times. We're going to get out of here. We think Julio tomorrow. Maybe Ryan. There's a lot. Bryce Miller. Just stick around. It's going to be a lot of fun. Stick around for Bump and Stacey next. And you know where the hay is? Where is it? Where is it? In the barn. There it goes. See you, everybody. Guys, it's a chopper!