Hour 3: Mariners Pitcher Logan Gilbert on his Future in Seattle

Get me a freaking auto! From the Quantum Fiber Studio, this is Brock and Salk on Seattle Sports. Brock Eward is my hero. Jay Buter just punched me in the kidney. We're gonna do you a minute. It doesn't really work that way, Sherm. This is a show that has my name on it. It's kind of tough, though. Now here are your hosts, Brock Eward and Mike Salk. Hello! Hello! Hello! Hello! We're on the radio? Yeah, Salky. Well, there's all these people around. You get so distracted. I do get distracted very easily. You never know who's going to stop by. Yeah. Justin Hollander walking by right now. That's the general manager of the Mariners. Yes, he is. He's put together this juggernaut. Yes. He's the genius behind all of it. And he's just walking by here like he's nothing. He just waved you away. Like he's not even famous. And now he's walking away. Yeah. I mean, he comes over to say hi. Yes. Like he's not even the dude who put this whole thing together. Unbelievable. He's going to join us this week, right? Unless you just blew it. I don't think so. You don't think you just blew it? No, you think I blew it? By giving him credit? Only you could think that I blew it by giving him credit for everything he did. He doesn't want that kind of praise and a plum? He doesn't want that? I don't think so. I feel like he should. Justin's a good dude, and he's going to sit down with us at some point. I think maybe that's most likely going to be on tape for Friday would be my guess. Because not going to be anybody here. Friday. We're going to be here in the morning. They've got a night game. That's usually when the young guys are all here. The very young guys. I don't know whether some of the Major League Camp young guys are going to be here. No, probably not. But it is fun to see the minor leaguers feel like they got there. It is. They kind of take over the complex. Who's the big deal now? Start feeling their oats a little bit. Julio. I got the squat rack this morning. This is my turf. They start feeling their oats like, yeah, No, this is my turf. That's right. So that'll be Friday. And in between, we'll be busy. You'll enjoy. You know, I did think of another guy that pushes Logan for, like, really nice guy. Currently on the roster? Yes. Yes. Who goes out of his way and will say hello to Maura. Will say hello to me by name. Like, just very sweet. Very, very kind. Is Emerson Hancock. Oh, sure. He is right there, like, with Logan. He could not be like the southern Georgia, southern gentleman, sweet. Like, he is a very kind guy as well. So I think some of the difference, you know, a little bit, is we know Logan's got that alter ego, Walter, right? And we never see that. We've never experienced that. I think I got a little piece of it. You got close to it. You guys are going to hear it coming up at 830. You'll hear just about a half, I don't know, 10 seconds of Walter that came out of Logan. That was pretty fun. Yeah, there's two little things here. And it looks like Colt is still lifted, and that's awesome. We're not going to interrupt these guys. And we're going to have a ton of other guys to talk to. Bryce, what, tomorrow as well, even though he's pitching, which is great. He's like, what else am I going to do? It's really hard to get these guys away from each other. Yeah. Remember a few years ago the big observation was they don't wear earbuds or AirPods ever. And, by the way, still true. Walk around here, nobody's wearing headphones of any kind. Ever. It's true. I never, ever, ever, occasionally early in the morning if somebody's on the treadmill by themselves. But other than that, I never see guys walking around. That's a really good observation by yourself. Well, I made it a few years ago, and I've kind of continued it each year because it's still true. They talk to each other. They're not staring at their phones. They are talking to each other. Yeah, that's a really good point. Take note, coaches out there of youth baseball teams and football teams and hockey teams or whatever. take their damn phones away as often as you can and make these guys talk to each other. If you hear how important it is for the Seahawks to love each other and the Mariners Clubhouse to be cohesive, take their freaking phones away and don't let them wear their AirPods around the locker room or anywhere else. You know what I paid for these Bose headphones? Make them talk to each other. You know what I paid for these Bose headphones? And when you leave your teammates, feel free to wear them all you want. But when you're around your teammates, get them out of your ears. get that phone out of your hand, and actually talk to each other. And they do. And it's awesome. And they have this huge bond. And I did mention to Logan yesterday, he was, we got big leagues, like 45 minutes, an hour maybe. We were waiting for Logan, which is fine. He can do that, of course. He's Logan Gilbert. But the reason was he's just having too much fun with his buddies. That's right. He was so happy to be hanging out and working with Brian Wu and all of them, all of them together. They can't get away from each other. I just walked through there. The dining room and Bryce and Brian and I think it was Logan are all just eating together all the time. They're just never far apart. Yeah, and you can't fake that funk, right? I'm sure there's cynics and you tune in and you listen. Oh, it's all great. Oh, everything's wonderful. Oh, these are amazing. Oh, da, da, da, da, da. Right? But the reality is like that's the secret sauce stuff. Like that's just it. That's just it. And you all know that from where your business is that you're in. Right? You don't have to be like a youth hockey or youth basketball or high school football. You know that from whatever environment that you work in with people. You want to be around them? Is your faculty room at the school full, people buzzing in there and y'all talking, y'all hanging out? Or is it just a sterile, like, I'm not going in there. I don't want to hang with anybody. Your sales office, whatever it is, whatever team environment you're in, you know that. The best teams, the best businesses are people want to be there. I want to be around this. I've told you many times, one of the things that Bob Witsit wrongfully did was tear every picture down. It was like a white-walled, like it looked like the Frankfurt Airport. Remember when we flew through Frankfurt on our way to Dublin? The stork. And the stork was walking by? Don't look at Maura. How dare you? Because Maura gets mad every time I imitate the stork. That's exactly right. Well, you can't do it anymore. I just feel like you guys have to be exaggerating. Maura. Maura, I'd have Salk do it. But A, he would embarrass himself. I've seen it. I could do it. And B, he tore his hamstring. No, I can do it. Oh, he tore it from the bone. I have no problems imitating the store. Yes. Remember how cold and sterile that airport was? It was white. It looked like a mental asylum. Yeah. Yeah, when Bob took down all the – not to blame Bob, but, like, when that place became cold, everybody finished practice. I'm out. I don't want to be here. Get me out of here. What is it now? What is this place now? Like, I want to be here. Yeah. Don't leave. Don't leave. Well, and we saw that last year with the hidden cages, which are sort of off to our left here. They put in a lounge. Yep. Essentially, a bunch of comfortable chairs. Some couches. Some couches and places to hang out so you're just around the cage while your buddies are hitting or whatever. They put in these Adirondack chairs right in front of us with a couple of different tables to hang out at outside. Nice weather in the shade. You're absolutely right. The effort has been made over the last really five to eight years. It's not brand new. Yep. They started to invest in building an actual team. Yep. And you see the difference, and you really have for the last couple of years now. There's no doubt. One last little quick thing and observation, just watching in the cage there, and I think it was Victor that was hitting and Seitz and Edgar watching. Wouldn't it be so fun just to look through Edgar's eyes of what he's looking at? Because I watch all these swings, and they, like, pro golfers, like, they're all pretty good. Like, there's not a lot of waste of movement. They're all pretty short to the ball. Like, what? I would just be so fascinated to know what is he looking at, what thought bubbles, What little details? What is he seeing that 40 years of experience have given him that I have no idea what I'm observing? And the other cool thing, too, speaking of what's changed in five years, you know what else they have? TVs above the cage. So everything is tracked. The exit V low and where it's hit and the angle and all of it. It does look, I mean, the pitchers we know have been doing that. There are TVs right above the mounds where they throw their big bullpens. Yep. I mean, you bring up golf earlier. it does look a little bit like seeing the golfers on the range, where after every single shot, they're looking at the swing shape, the club it hit, the spin rate, and all of it. All those things are really important to them to try to maximize and get every ounce out of it. When you're playing at this elite level, you need everything. You need to get every single one of those things. Yes. Thank you, Brock. You're welcome. As usual. Chasing laces. You're not chasing edges. You're not chasing. No. No, you're chasing. Just laces? Ah, spin, you know. Maybe not. That didn't work quite as well. You don't want to chase. You don't want to chase too much as a hitter. No. No. You don't want that to be a part of your game. You've got to come up with a different phrase. I'll figure it out. All right. Work on that, please, if you don't mind. All right. Logan Gilbert coming up here in about 20 minutes. You can hear how I made him mad, which is really almost an impossible thing to do. There's also some really cool stuff in there. There's some stuff about the group chat. It's pretty good. By the way, I don't think Justin has posted this yet. But for you real geeks out there, I mean, for you real, real baseball-like delivery, maybe you're a coach, just Logan and I went three minutes on video talking about some pitching mechanics and force and the tools that he uses and why he uses and the timing mechanism of it. And, yeah, if you like that stuff, I know that Justin's going to get that up. He had the R2-D2 ball out even. He did. He was showing me why he uses all the tools that he uses. Yeah, pretty good stuff. It's coming. don't go anywhere we're hanging out at spring training all week long rock and socks yale sports on 7 10. 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 ball players but hey whether you're in the north or the south they got you covered this is a toyota of Kirkland.com and toyota of Brinton.com offers out through March 2nd, 2026 on approved credit through TFS, excludes taxes, titles, licensed dealers, accessories, and a $200 negotiable dealer documentation model 7540. 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 ERP, 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. We are Seattle Sports. 7, 10 a.m. on your radio. Streaming through the Seattle Sports app. Get new videos, podcasts, and articles on the Seahawks and Mariners from your favorite Seattle sports personalities daily. Need to know. 15 minutes past every hour with Brock and Salk. Presented by Marquee Data. Here what you need to know Up first There really are some good people around here You hang out here just sitting on this little patio outside the cafeteria And just everyone who walks by is pretty cool. Do you think it helps that it's 80 degrees? It does. Everyone's in a good mood. But it feels good. But it is nice. Shannon and Rick comes out and Justin Barnes is here, obviously. And Adam Jude just came by and Divish stops by and Daniel Kramer's a good dude. and all the Mariners PR staff is great heavily and Alex and the rest of that. I mean, just, and they always seem to bring in more good people. I'm not just, they really are a lot of people I enjoy being around every time you're here. It's not just the players who like being around each other. I think you got a group of people that cover the team, work for the team, interact. They're all pretty Gary Hills hanging out for a while. Like, just a lot of really nice, good people around here. It's a very pleasant environment. You know what else helps? Winning. Having a good team. Yeah, that does help. We saw some of it yesterday. They didn't win. They gave up 12 runs to a White Sox team that did not have a single player I'd ever heard of. But they were mostly pitchers that I'd never heard of either, so I'm not that worried about it. We got to see probably more than anything the debut of Brendan Donovan. He led off a couple of hits, one very long at bat, which was great. Afterwards, cut one. He said, yeah, it was a little weird making my debut for the Mariners and first time ever in the Cactus League. Yeah, I had some jitters, I'm not going to lie. I mean, new team and first time playing, but for me, I just wanted to just be under control and I wanted to make sure I was going on good pitches and I wanted to get something off the barrel too. So to see those balls, Mastri got me out of it. It was pretty cool. Who does he sound like? There's a little McConaughey in there. Well, someone said that, but McConaughey is Texas. This is Alabama. He's South Alabama. I know. It is the beauty of baseball too, right? Like, literally, you got – and we've talked about this a lot. Yeah. You know, Molly, when she went to the University of Washington, my wife, Molly Hills at that time, it was San Francisco. It was Edmonds. It was Utah. It was Canada. It was Jamaica. Like, it was from all corners. Yeah. Baseball's beautiful like this because there's George from New York. There's Wu from the Bay Area. There's Logan from Florida. Right? You got, obviously, Luis from the Dominican. Bryce from Texarkana. Yeah. And now we add South Alabama to the mix. Yeah. Yeah, it's a pretty area. No, move it along. Move it along. Shut up. Stop talking about where these guys are from. You get Brash from Canada. Munoz from Mexico. Yeah, no, you're right. There is, you do get a lot of those different types of personalities. And I think sometimes that's great when they end up. Especially when it all comes together. Well, wasn't it, it was Logan. Yeah, so you guys will hear that. I was asking Logan a little bit about that with four American guys, American born, and then Luis Castillo. And kind of how that works and works very, very well. Combine continuing today in Indianapolis, Brock. Why don't they do that here? The weather's pretty good here. They should all come here. A very central location, indoor facility. They should go back and forth between here and, like, I don't know, Maui or something. Well, most of the guys train down here. Here in Florida would be all the training centers. Well, then they should do that and have it here where it's nice and everybody would want to come. John Schneider was there. He's speaking yesterday to the media. And one of the big questions, of course, is Ken Walker. Cut number 10. He gave his latest insight into the direction of that conversation. We'd love to have Ken back, and he knows us better than anybody. It's about our 70, you know, our collective, and what that's going to look like. And, you know, we'll have those meetings down here. We'll start talking to all the agents, and, yeah, we'll have a better feel where we're going here towards the end of the week. But, obviously, we'd love to have everybody. We want to have everybody back. You know, right when you get done with something special like that, you're like, yeah, let's run it back. Let's run it back. You know, it's going to be an interesting process. I like the way he framed that. I listened to the Arizona GM. I listened to the Packers and Steelers GM. And you know what their answers were to Kyler Murray and Aaron Rodgers. Well, all options are on the table. All options are on the table. How different is it? Even that sentence. That's what most of these GMs are going to phrase. All options are on the table compared to a kid knows it's all about the collective. It's about all 70. I mean, just even that. It just shows you the differentiation of a team that's like, yeah, collective, man, it's all about 70, versus, yeah, all options on the table. We'll see. These are the commodities. Now, I will also add, not only do we have the Javante Williams deal, three years, $24 million, about eight per. You also had the Jets, who one time drafted a guy that was legally blind in one eye, but the Jets, who said yesterday they will franchise Brace Hall. So if they want to get a deal done, he's going to be a part of it. They are willing to use. Would you say $8 million a year for three years? For Javante. And then the franchise. Does that sound about right? $14 million. That sound right? That would sound great. Yeah. I mean, that sounds pretty good. Yep. Yeah. I could probably make do with that. And Ken says, yeah, please. All right. Super Bowl MVP. 1,000 yards, 1,000 yards, 1,000 yards. Haven't torn my ACL like Javante did. I'm into all of that. Just not Super Bowl MVP. Super Bowl. That's just not going to sell me. Sorry. here's the third thing you need to know uh all right kraken making a couple of small moves yesterday brock as they uh signed both ben myers and ryan winchester these guys are already on their roster already on their roster just had a couple years they've been up and down a little bit over the last few years so they sign them i don't really understand how this works as well i'm not gonna pretend like i fully understand the the complexities to know i know i don't know and marky dana is sponsoring this i need i know well you need to know that they're going to be here for the next couple of years on an extension. I don't fully understand the two-way contracts and the ups and downs of young hockey players. Can you study that tonight? I'll work on it. When you're hanging with Larry. Oh, actually, working me. I'm hanging out with you. You want me to just start studying that? No. John Howie, no. No, I want you engaged. I want you locked in. I know last night was an intense night. I know today it could be intense on the course. No, I need you locked in tonight, okay? All right, I'll do the best I can. That is everything you need to know and some stuff that I don't know here every morning. Can you promise me one thing? That I don't make our next guest mad? You've offended Cal. Yeah. You really pissed Logan off. You're going to hear that in 20 minutes. Yes, you did. 20 minutes? You're going to hear that next? Yeah, that's what I'm saying. About 20 minutes, about 15 minutes into the interview, were you like, really? You want me to not make Justin Holl. I mean, he's on that list of nice guys, too. Cal's super nice. Logan's super nice. That's right. Hollander's super nice. Let's see if the third time's a charm for you, Salky. That would really be awful. If I could make those three people mad in one week, that is a trifecta. Not easy to do. Time to look in the mirror. I believe in you. Thank you, Maura. I appreciate you. Only you support me. Only Maura. We'll be right back with Logan Gilbert, who was awesome yesterday. And you can hear how I kind of made him a little mad. Just for a moment. He got over it. Just a little Walter coming out. That's all. It's next on Brock and Salk. It's spring training, and it's a 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 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 ToyotaKirkland.com and ToyotaRenton.com. Offers all 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. Stop running your business on highlights. Get the full picture. Visit datatowins.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'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, this is Brock and Sock. Weekdays 6 to 10. On Seattle Sports and 97.3 FM HD2. All right, we roll on from Mariner Spring Training Facility here in Peoria. Just the best, just the absolute best week. And one of our favorite parts of the week is our annual conversation with Logan Gilbert. I don't know how many years we've done this now. Four, five, six years. That's a lot. It feels like it. Before you were even up in the big league. Right, yeah. Now here you are. How are we doing? Time is flying. It's been great. It's good. Good to talk to you guys again. Well, you're like an adult now, too. It's scary. You got a wife. You got a kid. Congratulations. Thank you. Brock, Michael, Gilbert. Yeah. That's right. It's so nice of you to name him after us. You guessed it, yeah. Wow. Yeah. I know you're going to get a lot of questions about you. Brock loves babies and loves marriage. He's going to talk to you about all that. Can I ask you the real question? Yeah, sure. You got a Frenchie, right? Oh, yeah. How's the dog handling the baby? What's that relation? Oh, boy. As a confirmed and devout Frenchie owner and fan. Frenchies are the best. They are the best. How's the Frenchie handling this, and is he still getting enough attention? Yeah, the hard-hitting questions right away. This is big. Yeah, we weren't sure, but bringing him home, she's been great. There definitely was an attention shift that maybe took in a little bit of time, but, yeah, it's great, and the Frenchie's handling it well, so very mature. Do you remember to make sure the dog gets a little extra attention? Yeah, yeah. Mom's always with the baby. I get it. It's very difficult. She needs her time. They both need their time. You got to make sure you give the dog some extra pets. Right, yeah. You have to. Have you felt like the dexterity it takes to hold the child, to change the diapers? Has it added any new pitch mix? Any new grips and stuff? Anything? Foreign substance. Yeah, it's definitely a workout at times. I'm actually more of a natural lefty. which is probably good. So I usually hold them over there, figured out the grips and the holds and all that. So just like baseball. Isn't it wild though? Like the first, you remember this, like the first few weeks, you're just like, what? Yeah. We really have a child? Right. Like we're really in charge of this? And then no sleep and you're just kind of in twilight zone. And it's going to last forever? Yeah. Yeah. It's a thing. It's a crazy feeling. Yeah. And you wake up every day, I feel like, at the very beginning and it like clicks for a split second right away you're like oh wait we have a kid like yes because you're still not automatic yet no you don know how to hold them i mean my wife a natural but it took me a lot of time for the diapers and the holds and all that stuff but it been the best thing it all kinds of dads And Salk and I are very different Just about in every way in life right In this regard too There's kind of two sorts of dads, I think. Those that really enjoy the baby face. And then those that really abstain from the baby face. No. No, that's not true. Which one's which here? Some of us don't enjoy the baby face, but didn't abstain. Okay, sorry. We did all the hard work. We just didn't enjoy it. Kind of, yes. But those that enjoy it and those that don't enjoy it, where are you on that spectrum? Oh, I love it. I do. I love it. I can see that you'll get to play with him more and that fun stage of him realizing what's going on, playing baseball, playing everything. But I try to be really careful not to wish time away or think that stage will be so great because we're in the most amazing stage right now. And I know I'm going to wish for it back one day, and people always tell me that. So I'm trying to be super present, even though you blink and he's already four months and looks different. It's crazy. Logan, I'm glad you said you were a natural lefty because I was just over here talking to a few folks and we were watching you do your routine. And I was like, Logan's got like he's a left handed person just looking at you with all the things you're doing. It's very lefty. Yeah. So that's fair. How does that work? Maybe we've asked you about this before. You know, Billy Wagner was a righty. He broke his right arm, started pitching left. He became a Hall of Famer. How did you start throwing right-handed? I didn't know that about him. Isn't that crazy? Natural righty. I think it's just natural for me. I mean, I picked up a lot of sports righty, not everything. So I just, it's random, I think. But like normal things, writing and eating and brushing teeth and stuff is lefty. But a lot of sports things are righty. So I don't know. It could have been fun to be a lefty pitcher, but it just wasn't in the cards for me. Well, I was also going to say, so we taped this interview, and you were a little late, which is okay. This is not about giving you grief. In fact, it's quite the opposite, because as we were sitting here kind of waiting, I was like, God, you know why Logan's late? Because he and all of the other starters are having so much fun, hanging out, doing their thing, talking together. They're just back reunited for the first time just, what, last week or a week or so ago. And just seeing that bond and all those conversations, I know they're not all about baseball. I'm sure a lot of them are not, but it is pretty cool to see you guys and that bonding experience that you all have together. It is. Yeah. Yeah. They are some of my best friends for sure. And I noticed that even more in the offseason, too, because it's like I realized, man, I don't have a ton of friends back home and all my best friends are here with the Mariners. So I would hate to ever leave because it's just fun hanging out. Yeah. Like we talk baseball for sure, but people probably think we talk more baseball than we do when we're just hanging out off the field and stuff. So did you see those guys throughout the offseason at all? Um, not really. No, everybody's so spread out. We would talk on the phone and text and stuff like that, but I didn't really get to see many people. What is the name of that text thread? Five guys. Five starters. Maybe Emerson's on it. I don't know. I don't think we... There's no name? Emerson's in there. No, I don't think we named anything. That sounds like he doesn't want to tell me that. Not yet. I don't blame him. I wouldn't make that public either. Can't answer. Is Cal on the text thread or not? He's on one and he's not on the other. There we go. How much does Cal get talked about in the one he's not on? That's why he's not on. Well, we need to say something we don't want him to see. Are you just going to? I mean, go ahead. Well, just along these lines. I'll be the good-looking one over here in the corner. Because you just said it, that you hope you never leave, because this is where all your friends are. It was right around this time last year that Cal signed his deal, maybe just a few weeks later than this, and made the decision to stay long-term. I know we talked to you. Other people talked to you last year. and you said that you were certainly open to that. Has there been any progress towards a long-term deal here in Seattle? I really haven't heard much lately. And, yeah, I kind of thought that with Cal last year. You never know how things are going to work out. But every year it's crazy. We're just talking about how many years it's been already. I'm starting to feel old and then free agency is right around the corner. And it's exciting but unknown at the same time because this is all I've known my whole life and my best friends here and stuff like that. So, again, I would love to stay here. I haven't really heard much, but, you know, maybe a good tryout here in spring training and things work out. You never know. Is it unique from your experience with peers and friends and other organizations? Is what you guys have here from that friendship and from everybody watching each other and rooting on each other, do you find that that is unique? Or if we were in 29 other spots, like, no, most of the rotations and most of the guys are close like we are. I think a lot of people probably say something similar, and this is all I know, but I would have to imagine it's different because most all of us are around the same age, have been with one org the whole time. Other teams might have a 15-year vet and then a new guy and then all this. We were kind of year after year after year, a lot of us, and Louie was the one traded over, but he's been here for years. It feels like all I know is him in a Mariner's uniform. So I think we're all really close, and I can't imagine everywhere else is like that. I think I asked Cal about this, but four of you guys, Emerson would make five, born in America, grew up in America, and then you have Luis, who's just a completely different life experience. How does that mesh? What does he bring to the dynamic of the five or six of you? The funny thing is him and Bryce, who are probably the farthest apart, are probably the closest ones out of the five. that somehow they relate and get along and laugh more than anybody else. So he's another one of the guys just like anybody else. And we talk about baseball. We talk about his fishing in the offseason, his boat and all that stuff. So I don't know. You can be from different parts of the world, and the game just brings you together. And he had his third girl, right? Three girls. So Emerson had his. What did you say, Emerson, like a week apart? A week after me, he had a boy. Louie had another girl. So I think he's going to keep going, I think. It sounds like he wants that boy. Yeah. What are we working on here outside of the fun stuff? And if you have time, I know you've got a wife, kid, Frenchie. I think now is the year that we finally – I think I get to – I'd like to experiment with the orb and some of the stuff. Get you on there. Yeah, I'd like to kind of – With the water in it. Yeah. R2-D2. That's what it looks like. Kind of feel what we're doing here. What is the next step for you? Just purely pitching, purely baseball-wise, this process of spring, what's next? Yeah. Yeah, well, first on that, it's fun for me every year because more and more people do the water ball and water bag stuff. Yeah. So I feel a little bit less weird because I start looking around and there's other guys in the org. They have other water balls and bags in there. I don't have to bring my own. It's like we're graduating. It's getting better and better. More people are doing it. So I feel a little less freakish, a little bit. You're sort of like the guy who found the band before everyone else did. I told you it was real. Oh, you guys only like their new stuff? I was listening to the first album. Yeah, exactly. I can try to take the credit at least. For the pitching side, I'm trying out a cutter again. I threw some in the game yesterday. I'm trying to have more behind-in-the-count options. I've been pretty good getting ahead and when I'm ahead. If I can take a little bit of pressure off the fastball slider and behind counts, that would help. So the cutter does what? Does that turn a little different way? It's kind of like just off the fastball and a little left. It's built more against lefties than righties, but I might do both. I threw it in 24, mixed bag. First half it was good, second half it wasn't as good. I have different theories on why, but I'm trying to bring that back. I'm trying to throw more curveballs too, and again worked on that yesterday and felt pretty good. I messed with a changeup in the offseason. I don't think that happens. Okay. But it was fun to mess around with. And I even worked a sinker in the game yesterday that first strike, another behind in the count option. I don't have high hopes for that, But it did make Cal really upset that I threw it, so that was a win in itself. He hates it. Why does he hate it? Just nothing pitch? Yeah, he just likes tried and true. He doesn't like when you mess around with all this stuff. I have a funky grip. It's kind of a funky pitch. So he likes things that he knows are normal. That's a sinker you said is kind of funky? Yeah. How would you characterize your year last year? Was it a good year? Was it not? I'm trying. It felt like they had different moments and paths to it. It was your first year being banged up, right? Yeah. First time on the I.L., yeah. Yeah. So how would you characterize your year? I thought it was good. All right. What did you think? There were parts of it that were great. Unfortunately, you were hurt for some of it. And I don't know. I wasn't sure how frustrating that was. Oh, this is great. This is now back-to-back days. Oh, man. Now I offended Logan. Piss off Cal yesterday. Only I could offend Logan, but literally the nicest guy in the entire organization. What did you say to Cal? Oh. Oh, I just asked if he could catch 120 again. He was like, yeah. Why would you even ask me that? He's like, well, I don't know. I'm going to bring that up to him later. Thank you. Please. Yeah, by all means, make me look worse. Thank you. Yeah, you should ask him that. He really likes it. Did you hear this Jamoke on the radio? He didn't think you could catch 120 games. Yeah, he'd really like that. That was your first year, though, like being on the IL. It was hard mentally at first accepting that. and the sad reality is a lot of people go on the IL and I don't ever want to be there again hopefully but still like the timing was bad but it's like a flexor strain all things considered is a win kind of. Scary? And it's scary but once you get the diagnosis and work with the right people you know that you have a set timeline and not too long and like six weeks is much different than a lot of people being out for a year and a half or two years or something so you know all things considered I'll take it. I just try to put myself in your shoes when that happens and you know that you feel it in your forearm and you're like, I don't know what's ahead of me now. In the moment, very scary. In the moment, that night, for sure, a lot of thinking. And you get the MRI the next morning. So thankfully there's not too much time. But, yeah, there's a short window there where it's like, it's not how it's supposed to go. That's what you're thinking. Have you had that in the past ever in college or on the way up? I've had, like, tightness there like most people probably have. That was probably the most serious it's been. Yeah. But thankfully after that, it felt good and a nice break in the offseason and feeling good right now. Yeah, so what do you do in this offseason as you prepare? Do you do anything different? Or is it just, hey, you know, kind of Lord's hands and timing and just, you know, this is pitching. There's a lot of that mentality for me. But there's also just I try to control everything, and I know I can't, but I try as much as I can. So it's different in itself with the playoffs. We went longer. Then I was on the IL, so I'm kind of thinking, do I go right away? Do I take more time off? But we have a shortened offseason already. Thankfully, some of the weird stuff you guys see out here, I have even more weird stuff that people don't see. Oh, interesting. I do some arm care that's not traditional, and some of it's built for the flexor, for the forearm. So I been doing that in the offseason that I think has been helping too Can we pry What does that look like I don have it with me Picture two baseballs connected with a pole in between It's called a grip ripper. And you grab one baseball and shake it, and the baseball on the other side shakes. So that's all instability stuff. This is based for instability but just for your forearm. So it isolates that. Yeah, exactly. Makes sense. Rice? You doing rice? I used to. Actually, last year I did after the fact, and I felt like that helped out. I'm a big rice guy. I try to. I like to do the grapes. Not rest, ice, compression, and elevation. Just actually putting your arm into rice, rather. To rice, yeah. And moving it around. You do all the different grapes. Whatever works. I've tried it. Yeah. A little bit of everything. How about Brian Wu's year last year? We'll get you talking about some of your teammates and friends, what he did and what he accomplished last year. Yeah, he was great. It was fun to see it. And I think everybody kind of saw a taste, too, and knowing that it was bound to come out at some point. And he had a lot of success in 24, but it was definitely a big breakout. And expecting more of that this year. And then your buddy, who I know you're not going to give that much credit to, Cal Raleigh, but the dude did hit 60 home runs. And somehow. Other people have hit 60, though. I don't know. He was all. It is pretty good. He was all with us the other day, and he's like, well, passing Mickey was pretty good. I'm like, man, you can just call Mickey Mantle Mickey. Yeah. Once you pass him on a home run list. It's no longer Mr. Mano. That's pretty crazy. But he is still so grounded. He is so normal. He has not changed, at least to our eye. How is that possible? And do you guys around him play a role in reminding him of who he is? I have to. Yeah, that's what I tell people after the jokes, of course, that he is the guy that stays exactly the same. If that success happens to anybody, you want it to happen to him because he can handle it so well and stays the exact same. And a lot of that credit to all the pitchers for giving him a hard time and keeping him in check because we try so hard in all of our free time to just bother him when he's so busy. But he has so much talent, but like you said, the persona that he has, the leadership, staying grounded, it's a very rare combination. Wouldn't you say in some ways it's emblematic of the whole crew? There's really not just about everybody in this building I know Jerry was wearing, what, nine versus one. And obviously we talk a ton of Seahawks. 12 is one and all their run that they went on. But isn't he somewhat emblematic of everybody? Like pretty talented. Yeah. But we don't need to tell everybody or act like we're all that much different. I think I see that with the pitching side, with the hitting side, with every small group. And then it kind of comes together collectively. So the starting group, the bullpen, the pitchers as a whole, the hitters as a whole. and then Cal has his hand in everything a little bit. So I feel like that all comes together and makes us, what do they say, the sum's better than the, or the. What hole's better than the sum of the parts? The hole's better than the sum of the parts. That's right where I was at, yeah. Radio guys. Yeah, I think that's kind of what we see too. Do you have, what are your relationships like with the hitters? Guys that, you know, you're not working with them every day on the mound or all that. How many relationships and what do those relationships look like? It's been great for me. A lot of them I've been with for years and some new, but guys like Randy that came over from trade, Nails, like, again, it feels like they've been here for years. And you can hear or see sometimes about a disconnect between hitting and pitching. I really don't see that a ton here. I think we support them. They support us. We have understanding for the different challenges that each other goes through. But we know that if we want to win the whole thing, that's the expectation this year. We have to rely on each other. Any truth to the, weren't you the trident guy? Any truth to that really healing too and helping the elbow? That was my exercise program, the rehab, yeah. It kind of played a role as well, did it not? Expectations, let's go right there. What are your expectations for this team? We can talk about it. We have all these national voices this week that jump aboard here, they get a taste and a sense and a feel of you guys as they get proximity to you. What internally and individually are your expectations? I mean, just winning it all right off the bat, that has to be the expectation, the goal, nothing less. I don't like getting into let's make the playoffs or win the division or maybe next year we get to the World Series. I don't want it to be step-by-step type of thing. It's great if we fail our way into that like we did last year, but progress is great, but we have to shoot for the whole thing, and that has to be the expectation too. No team wins the World Series by accidentally doing it or thinking, well, we played above what we should have. I think from the get-go, we have to think we're the best team. We're going to be the last one standing. How does it feel using those words and having them bandied about this building, World Series? Yeah, it's good that it feels more normal now. I feel like if we said that a few years ago, it kind of felt like we were skipping steps in 20. Like we were just trying to break the drought or whatever it was. It's good that it's normal now for us and from the outside that people are expecting us to have a chance. Did I hear that Naylor, when he came over, was helpful a little bit with some of the pitchers in the running game? Yeah. He's probably the most I've seen in the dugout of being vocal about what the other pitchers are doing, tendency-wise and timing and different things that pretty much every pitcher has things that go on, but we don't always realize it, and he's really good at picking those up. Was it just in the dugout, or I felt like maybe it was on the field? I'm not going to get into that. Waving around, jumping up and down. I think every once in a while, I know it's also out on the field as well. He's kind of a different bird. What do we know about Josh Naylor? He's great. Took me a while to figure out. I just don't know if I have them all figured out. But he's very unique, like such a competitive guy on the field. But the nicest guy off the field. But when I was playing against him, I probably wouldn't have guessed that necessarily. But then I remember seeing him in passing and eventually came over here. And I'm like, this is the nicest guy ever. but on the field he is an absolute gamer. People have said, like, he wouldn't really talk to you at first base. I don't know, but that's what I heard. So just a different cat, but a great teammate. A guy you don't like to play. Exactly. You want him on your team, not the other team. And I've heard the same about Brendan Donovan for different reasons, but just so gritty and obnoxious at bats from a pitcher's perspective. What's the early word and early read on Donovan? He just seems all business. Definitely the gritty type from what I've heard and seen. but I love it because I think we relate. He's kind of like head down a little more quiet and just does his work every single day. Every time I see him, he's in the weight room or in the cage. So that's my kind of guy. That's the guy I want on my team. When you went back to Stetson, or if you go back to Stetson, or youth ball or whatever, and you talk to him and they say, hey, what was it like pitching in the postseason? Was it different in the ALCS? Was there a different, or was it just kind of tunnel vision? Didn't really feel any different. um yeah it definitely feels different like heightened and all that stuff um i think your first taste of the playoffs feels massively different and then after like it's almost an adrenaline high every single day so it almost in a weird way starts to then feel more normal of like the craziest game is just now the the new normal but of course when you're in actually in the moment it's like a split second it's crazy and nerve-wracking and all this stuff and then you throw the first pitch and it's just back to baseball. What was it like near the end of game five against Detroit? How are you feeling? You're watching this game. What was it like to be Logan Gilbert watching that? That was the most nervous I've been because I don't know how the bullpen guys do it. I said afterwards all the time, so much respect for them that they can do that every single day because I'm out there like, when do I drink my coffee? When do I take my pre-workout? Am I getting in or not? Like I'm trying to get confirmation here. Nobody knows. And then all of a sudden, it's like, boom, you're in the game. Fans are going crazy. You throw one bad pitch, and everything your teammates did for three hours is out the window. So it's a ton of fun, but it's also like, man, I like being a starter. That's what I'm used to. And then the moment Polanco has that hit, what's the reaction? Oh, that was crazy. I don't even remember. I think I blacked out or something. They have a picture on the wall in there. I don't even remember what I was doing at the time. Have you found yourself in the picture? I found myself, but I don't remember that moment. It was so cool, though. That was insane. It's kind of like the birth of Henry, first days after, weeks after, months after. I'm impressed you're here. I'm impressed. That's what? Still up here? Babies are hard, man. Like, if I were you, I'd be napping right now. I'm supposed to be home pretty soon. Yeah. I think we're going to let you go. I just feel bad. I feel bad for your wife. I feel bad for the Frenchie out here? Yeah, yeah. All right. Yeah, I feel bad for her as well. Yeah, I can't let her get back to the family. All right. We got to let you go. Thank you. Well, I mean, we don't have to. We need to, unfortunately. Thank you. This is great. We love catching up with you and just continued success and good luck. We say it all the time. Truly one of our favorite people to talk to down here. Yeah, that means a lot. Thank you, guys. Good seeing you again. All right. Did I make a man? Was that inappropriate? You know, you asked the perfect setup question. Yeah. I mean, any journalist would love the way you set that up. How would you characterize your season? Right. and and then well you he could read your body language and he said good he could read you like a book salt like he reads these hitters with cal raleigh in the box yeah and you didn't think it was good so i thought it was okay i mean it's not like it was bad right i was just curious if he would say like you know it wasn't my best and i am excited to come out and be even better than i was last year he was good i mean he had a good year but there's no way you would look at logan's year and be like, yeah, he wasn't good last year. No, and it's 1,000% dictated by the first injury of his career. Yeah. So he doesn't want to focus on that. He's not going to make an excuse about it. Right. You know, and he's going to, and what's great in talking to some people about him as well after that, they said, that's his head? Yeah. He's headstrong like that. I thought it was kind of fun to see Walter come out a little bit. Yeah. That was kind of fun. Yeah, for you. Yeah, for me. I don't mind. For me and Maura and Cheston. Well, he's not mad at you. Like, I'm happy to take those bullets like I usually do. I mean, like, I don't mind jumping. So we're a we, and we catch strays. No, you don't. The only one who catches your strays is me, as you know. Are you going to at least stop this streak when we talk to Julio tomorrow? Probably not. Okay. Yes, you will. You think so? Yes. We taped with Hollander during the break. I made him mad, too. Yeah. That one was on purpose, though. So that doesn't count. That one was on purpose. Julio will captivate you with those emerald green eyes. There's nothing I can do. And you'll just be a puddle. Yeah. We know that. I know. I mean, his tractor beam. I feel like that scene in Spaceballs where they get her in the tractor beam and they bring the Mercedes back. That's how I feel when I talk to Julio, which hopefully we are doing early tomorrow morning. All right. 30 minutes from now, I'll be a little distracted, just to let you know. Because that's when Ryan Sloan is pitching his program. Or maybe it's even in five minutes. I think it's about five minutes. It's about five minutes. Because I think we're going to talk to him in about 30. Oh, we are. Okay, good. I think that's the goal. Okay, so it is about five. So let's see if we can make that happen. We'll be right back with another hour here. It's Brock and Salk in Peoria. Oh, yeah, you know it. Mariner Spring Training, Seattle Sports on 710.