Hour 2: Can the Seahawks Make it to Back to Back Super Bowls?

Get in the freaking auto! From the Quantum Fiber Studio, this is Brock and Salk on Seattle Sports. Brock Huard and Mark, Matt, Marcus, sorry about Mike. Huard, not exactly Joe Capp there in the pocket. Now here are your hosts, Brock Huard and Mike Salk. There are a lot of fun people down here. Shannon's one of them. She's great. Lyle's hanging out. That's fun. You know, I've observed something about our young Lyle, who's within the eyeshad of us right now. When you take him out of the zoo exhibit and he's in his natural environment. Here, yeah. He's a very different person. Yeah. I only see him right behind the board. You see him domesticated. Yes. As opposed to released back into the wild. Yes. Where, indeed, we did ask Lyle during the break if he knew these relievers that I pitched yesterday. He knew almost. He didn't know Lumpkin. Nobody knows. Even Shannon didn't know Lumpkin. Lumpkin is a mystery to everybody. But Lyle knew like five out of seven. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Anthony Villa? Yeah, lefty. Oh, yeah. Yeah, he was a husky. Oh, yeah. I got a sub four ERA at AA last year. He's pretty impressive. It's tremendous. Unreal. I did get this text, Brock. It's already Wednesday. You guys leave on Friday. I mean, you really only have like a day and a half left in Arizona. That's not true. when does Salk peak and then start to become depressed? It's not till later in the week. It's usually not till Friday. Yeah. And I will say I'm not going home till Monday. So I've got the whole weekend here. I'm taking Monday morning off. I'm going to just be down here because I want to stay down here on Sunday and hang and get a couple days in with my buddies who live down here. So I will not be depressed on Friday. No. No. I think I'll be okay. You are really in peak human form all week long. I do love it. Yes. It is really great. Yes. Yeah. Other than having to go back and forth between my glasses and my sunglasses to try to read and see all at the same time. Yesterday brought. Have you ever considered prescription sunglasses? You know, yeah, I have. I've seen those. They don't work as well as I wanted them to. Especially you can't see anything in this damn computer screen in the sun anyway. Yeah. Story of the day yesterday is clearly Brendan Donovan. I mean, our first chance to see him, he didn't play right away. First few games of spring training. He gets out there yesterday. he plays third base like he's going to most of this year at least to start he hits leadoff which we know he's going to do he goes two for two with two singles atop the order you know i mean it's hard to imagine a much better debut in a spring training game for your new leadoff yeah and then just walk in the hall here before the show like 650 as i normally do just kind of the the wide set eyes trying to take everything in the cafeteria on the walk on the right the weight room on the left and who's doing one-legged backward lunges at 6.50 this morning? Oh, yeah. Yeah, Brendan Donovan's getting his work in. I think, honestly, the only concern, I think Luke Arkin sent me this note the other day, and just kind of style of play and now playing third base and all that that's going to require and the leadoff guy and setting the table is just for him to stay healthy. He's been a little banged up a couple years. So is he a guy that can play 150 games for you and, you know, play with that kind of intensity and that kind of aggression and that all you know all those components yeah that you know i think is a i think he'd even say yeah that's that's a real deal man when when you get to kind of this age and stage not that he's in his late 30s by any means but he's not 22 anymore and you're going to play that aggressively you've taught me that hey man there's always trade-offs for this there is there tend to be for that style of play we saw you know yep you said it yesterday talking about victor roble it's like well you know it's a little freaky that he happens to hurt his arm that way, and it was. I mean, that doesn't make him injury-prone, but it also is a byproduct of playing the game with your hair on fire. Yeah, I think that's true for Donovan. How many games is he going to be able to play? I think also just it's a little worth watching the defense at third base. It's new. Not that he hasn't played there before, but he hasn't played there every day before. If you were to see him, if you guys all had the opportunity to sit next to him or sit across from him like we did, he's certainly solidly built believe me he is built like a rock yeah he looks like a second baseman he does he just looks wise he looks more like a second baseman than a third baseman and i don't bring that up in terms of what his offensive capability might be i don't really think it matters in today's day and age where you are but i think just if you were to look at him you'd say second baseman yeah and i think if you saw the throw he made yesterday which his first throw the spring i'm not judging him on it you would just say like okay this is just something to take note of. And even he said it when we talked to him, like he's working with Perry Hill. Arm slotted second base and what you have to do, that's kind of the equivalent of a check down, a curl route. Third base is the equivalent of a comeback and a deep out, like you've got to, that ball's got to... Grip and rip it. Yep, it's got to have a little different juice and a little different finish. And Geno made a lot of that look easy. Williamson made a lot of that look easy. Made all of it look easy. Yes. Yeah, I don't think he's going to be Ben Williamson at third base. I think we know that, but just a little watch. How does the arm look from there over the course of the next few weeks leading into the season but other than that man i mean i want to really focus on what he did and what it looked like to have him at the top of the order because you had basically a major league lineup out there at least one through seven then it was arroyo and emerson hitting eight nine and by the way i think emerson's going to come by here shortly and we'll get an opportunity to chat with them yeah it's pretty legit lineup man it really does change the way your lineup functions yes and I know that a lot of the new age of baseball has talked about lineups and what are lineups and what's a traditional leadoff guy and what's a bottom of the order guy. And it's all about stacking your best hitters and getting them the most at bats. But I just I never felt terribly comfortable with Randy Orozarena as a leadoff guy. I know he can do damage. I know he did a year ago. I know there are stretches where he's phenomenal. But there is something to me that I don't know, man, that the numbers can never erase away. maybe my bias or my belief that there is a table setter. And in this version of baseball, especially where Cal Raleigh hits second, you don't necessarily want the old school leadoff hitter in front of him. A guy who's going to steal 50 bags? If he gets thrown out, or even if he does steal second, now all of a sudden you've got base open and they can pitch around Cal. I think he's a perfect leadoff hitter. Yeah, I'm on an on-base guy. I want a guy that's going to show Cal and Julio behind him some of those pitches and what it's going to look like and not just to be a, you know, try to be a damaged guy that's leading off that truly is setting the table for all that comes behind him. And yesterday in the first inning was about as good a script as you could possibly write. I mean, it just shows you the power of this lineup and what it looks like when the guy who's leading off gets on base twice. And you're watching yesterday. Now, they didn't end up doing as much with it as they would have normally. But you just watch it, and it's like, okay, Donovan has a long at-bat, what was it, six pitches, I want to say, at least, maybe seven. And then he ends up smashing a single into right field. Okay, man on first. Cal works a long at-bat with a bunch of foul balls and ultimately ends up walking. And now your pressure's on. Now it's first and second for Julio. Well, he gets hit by a pitch, and now you've got bases loaded, nobody out. Okay, you know, it's still spring training, and Naylor ends up hitting into a double play, although he hit the ball hard, so it kind of didn't work out as well as you might hope that it would. But you see the pressure that they put on the opponent and the opposing pitcher. This, after the same lineup a couple of days ago, made the guy throw 32 pitches in the first inning and 240 over the course of a game. I think they are going to be a handful for pitchers to deal with. So you asked a couple days ago, and maybe we can continue this thread along the next few days with different guests or different people and different voices, and that is, is this going to be more of an offensive team or pitching team? And ultimately, I think it's going to be a complimentary team. Yeah. And a whole lot more complete than they have been. Just one piece of data, CBS Sports actually put together their top 10 pitching staffs and their top 10 offenses in baseball. So just kind of a global look at all the teams and just one rider over there. But looking and judging in totality, where do you think the Mariners ranked, according to CBS Sports, as far as top pitching rotations in all of baseball and top hitting lineups in all of baseball? Pitching rotations that didn't include the bullpen? Yes, didn't include the bullpen. Four. Fifth. Okay, that's pretty close. Pretty darn good. Where do you think this lineup fit in stacked? Fifth. Sixth. Okay, look at you. It's pretty good. It's pretty good. Did you see it? Yeah. No, I didn't. Oh, you didn't know. You think I read CBS Sports? What am I? No, I didn't read that. Yeah, so does that answer anything? Fifth and sixth? Not really. I mean, it answers that this is the most complete team going into it. Just, again, another data point going into the season than we've seen around here in a long, long time. That's never happened, where you're sitting right basically in the top five, pitching and hitting. Let me play some, just to come back to Donovan for a moment and kind of what he does to bring this lineup together. He's like the rug in the big Lebowski. Cut 13, this was Greg Amsinger who joined us yesterday, talking through what makes the Mariners, he thinks, a 98-win team. But listen to what he says about Donovan. Well, you're going into opening day with an intense competitor in Josh Naylor, who you brought back immediately. You needed to bring him back. Dude, I think he's going to steal 30 bags. That was crazy. That was weird. No chance. But I love him. I'm not going to say it to his face because he's very intimidating. Then you go get the X-Factor guy that every single team that's in win-now mode wanted. and just follow the clues. Why would every club that wants to win a world championship right now want Brendan Donovan? Because he does everything you need to win. And I'm friends with Ali Marmol in St. Louis. I was born and raised in St. Louis, very close to that organization. And he knew the writing was on the wall that they were going to move Donovan. And it was heartbreaking because that was his favorite player. And when the manager absolutely loves a guy, there's a reason for it. Brendan Donovan is the polish of this team. He's the tiny little things that you don't see in a box score. He's bringing that edge to the Seattle Mariners. I love it. I think they check every single box for me. Well, and yesterday he brought the things that you do see in the box score, getting on base and doing all that. Yeah, he's like the little rug in the big Lebowski block, which I'm sure you've seen many times. He just kind of brings it together. Is that his man bun you're talking about? Like all that lettuce that he's got? Yeah, the man bun. Yeah, I mean, it is a little dude-like. It is a little dude-like. It is a little dude-like. That's a pretty good call. All right. It sounds like Colt Emerson is going to come by and join us here. We hope in about five minutes, but we'll see how this goes. We'll play it a little fast and loose. So we may have to push back. Need to know. Maybe we'll do it next. Just bear with us. We're working through their schedules, but we're having fun doing it. It's Brock and Salk Seattle sports on 710 and at spring training here on Seattle sports.com. 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. We financed with 2 APR for 48 months Like Spring Training Toyota Renton and Kirkland have standout opportunities with new prospects except their prospects are vehicles that you test drive They not ball players but hey whether you in the North or the South they got you covered This is the toyota of Kirkland.com and toyota of Renton.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 Huard 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. 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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's what you need to know. Up first. Well, Brenda Donovan just walked right by us. Brock had a nice little weightlifting conversation with him. Sure did. Talking fitness. We're talking one-legged backward lunges. You know what we were really talking? That throw from third. And just the difference with it. Mechanical. Yeah, he said, you know what, got a little narrow yesterday. The biggest thing Perry's working on, just stay nice and wide. Use that strength that he has. You know, you think of Gino over there. He was just a rope. He was just a machine, right? Just fundamentally. And he'll get there. He's like, ah, just a little narrow through. We've seen a lot of that here. Kyle Seeger was a machine. I agree Beltre was a machine. Last year, Williamson was a machine. Geno for a few years. I mean, they've really had some excellent defensive third base play in Seattle for a long time. And look, I'm just excited about what Donovan does, especially at the plate. I mean, just seeing him last night or yesterday afternoon, rather, just taking pitches, ripping a single. Here was the end of his first at-bat. Cut number three, Brendan Donovan in his first spring training at-bat as a Mariner. The windup by Kaye delivers, swinging a hard-hit ground ball through the right side for a base hit. So welcome to the Seattle Mariners, Brendan Donovan, a hard-hit ground ball running between Antonacci and Meade on the right side of the White Sox infield. So his first Cactus League at bat, first at bat in a Mariners uniform. Brendan Donovan with a solid base hit. Kind of like that. I think we all kind of like that. You could hear the crowd yesterday on a 79-degree day. I love the voice upstairs. Well, first pitch, is it 107? It's 79. Oh, it's 44 in Seattle. Not a good day to be in Seattle yesterday. So great job by Brendan Donovan. Cool to see him out there. And obviously a potential difference maker here for the Mariners. A little note from this morning. J.P. Crawford apparently dealing with a bit of a shoulder issue, which is why we've not seen a ton of him here in spring training. According to Shannon, the Mariners are slow playing him into games, should be into the lineup in another week or so. Dan Wilson saying they're not concerned and that there is plenty of time to get JP ready. There is just so much hype and excitement around this team. Yesterday, we played you Buster Olney. Today, this is John Marossi here in Cut 4, asked about this group by Wyman and Bob. Once again, pretty high on them. Yes, and we've talked about this before. can you expect Cal to be as great as he was last year? It's not really fair to expect it. And yet, you look at what they've added with Donovan. I think that he will... I'm not sure the raw numbers will be what they were for Cal. And again, it's actually foolish to expect they would be because a year like that's only happened once for a catcher in the history of the game. But when you look at even just today the way the lineup looks, Donovan leading off then Cal, then J-Rod, then Naylor I like that a lot Yeah, I think most teams in baseball would like that an awful lot. I think that's why you just said top six in terms of an offense heading into the season Here's the second thing you need to know Alright, combine opportunity for everybody to get together in Indianapolis this week. That includes John Schneider, who was there hanging out and talking to the media yesterday, he did say that at this point it's almost less about looking at the guys and more about talking to everybody else. Cut 11, this was John Schneider. The Combines have become a little bit more about, like I said earlier, about what the free agency and trades and what's the spring going to look like. And then we just kind of, the medical portion's huge. which basically started because the Jets drafted a guy that was legally blind in one eye. So the medical part's huge for us. And then all the interviews, the character, the person, and then it all just kind of starts building. These guys are going on Monday. They're starting to go to schools to go to pro days. It's like a reset. Like, all right, here we go. We're moving. And we don't know what next week. I mean, here we go. We're going to be in the free agency next week. I can't tell you what it's going to look like as of today. I can one-up that. My dad gave me a book about the early days of the Patriots, and they apparently drafted a guy who had died. He died. Yeah. He woke up the next day. He was dead. He wasn't even trying to take a shot at the Jets. He wasn't even trying to. That was brilliant. But, yeah, I mean, it has essentially become like their version of the winter meetings. I'm going to get to that in Blue 88. That's one of my questions for Blue 88. I'll dig into that sound a little bit more. But it is. When you're at the level of continuity that the Seahawks are at after a couple decades, yeah, that's really what it becomes is making sure you fill in all the rest of the blanks and get all the rest of the data. Here's the third thing you need to know. What was Mara running for? Well, she's trying to grab Colt Emerson. who just walked by, and she just straight up cut off Luke Raley. She did. She's like, out of my way, dude. Goodness. Gave him a little elbow. It's kind of a bust move. Well, she's got those guns now, and she used them to muscle Luke Raley. Did you also see the level of explosion I didn't see in the 200 meters? No. She bolted. She just got up and out of the way. Pretty impressive. Very impressive. All right, Kraken, a couple small moves ahead of the season. They, of course, start again tonight in Dallas. But Ben Myers and Ryan Winterton both signed multi-year deals, a couple of mostly fourth-line guys. although they've both played up at times. Good for them. I'm really happy two-year deals for both guys who've really worked hard and shown they belong at the NHL level. And after this break, it'll be kind of interesting to see. Now, Dallas is very, very talented, one of the top leading, point leading teams in all the NHL and then the Blues. But it will be after a three-week layoff. You were mentioning that the Kraken were practicing. Yeah. So all the guys that did not go to the Olympics, right, it's not as if they've been gone for three weeks. They've got a little time. but this will be kind of curious to watch who sprints the best down the stretch here of the second half really after this Olympic break and Kraken will get after it tonight. Speaking of sprints, Maura's back. What do we know about Colt? What's our Colt update? That's everything you need to know. I mean, that's fair to say that's the fastest she's ever moved. Maura, that was a great burst. Oh, I thought you were – I asked Bryce to come on with us tomorrow. Oh, that was Bryce for tomorrow. I'm sorry. You thought that was Colt? I looked up and thought that you were going to grab Colt. Put your glasses on. I will find out about Colt, but Bryce Miller is going to come on with us tomorrow. Okay, I only saw him as he was kind of, I thought it was a cold. If you would have used that explosion in the 200 meters, it would have been a lot closer race. Well, I think I scared Luke Raley. You did? I elbowed him. So you didn't scare him, you hit him. You cut him off in the past. You straight up butchered Luke Raley. Jeez. If he has another injury-plagued season, I think we know what we're going to trace him back. She almost put him into the wall. It was almost like Cecily trying to body check one of the dudes she plays against. That's right. Well done, Maura. Great burst, great athleticism. Well, obviously, you're peaking on Wednesday. Totally peaking on Wednesday. Oh, that was great. All right. We are waiting on a call to Emerson. It sounds like Ryan Sloan may stop by a little bit later this morning as well. Nice. Logan Gilbert at 8.30. So, I don't know. What else do you need? It's Brock and Salk Sales Sports here on 710. 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 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 Toyota of Kirkland dot com and Toyota of Renton dot 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 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. Stream every Seattle sports show with the Seattle Sports App. Brought to you by Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. Get new videos, podcasts, and articles on the Seahawks and Mariners from your favorite Seattle sports personalities daily. From the Quantum Fiber Studio. This is Brock and Salk. Weekdays 6 to 10. On Seattle Sports and 97.3 FM HD2. That Schneider clip is hilarious. Really, it's funny. Oh, yeah, of course, we have to have the medicals because the Jets drafted guys legally blind in one eye. Oh, my God. Why did that hit us? I don't know. It's a waste, the offhand way in which Schneider said it. I don't know. That was very funny. But it was totally not a shot even at the Jets. No, he was just explaining why they now have it. But, of course, the Jets did that. Of course they did. Of course they did. And then we're like, hey, well, good for them. I mean, they ended up leading to having a combine, which has been hugely important. I got a little Schneider stuff to come back to later. You want to do it right now, real quick? We're waiting on Colt Emerson, who has apparently disappeared. He's been swallowed up by a sinkhole or something. I don't know. There was some... I don't know what's happened. So we're waiting on Colt Emerson. Hopefully we'll... Like Jonah Like you just said in the belly of a whale He in the belly of a whale Yeah belly of a whale right now All right Well hopefully he going to walk by here and we snag him You want a moment of I do because I just want to say something I wearing a little you know Sonics hoodie today and Rick was like, ah, the Sonics, we're going to get him back. And, you know, I was listening to our brethren, as I do on the early drive in here in Arizona every time we're down here, and obviously the Suns are a big deal and have been for those guys because the Cardinals are awful, right? The Coyotes left. Like, it's not easy to have conversation. And they said it right. But the reality is, Salk, more people are more interested in the product of the combine than an NBA regular season game right now. Well, sure. I mean, it's not even close. This is supposed to be the NBA and college basketball's time. This is our window. This is our time. And it's like, no, it's not. Yeah, no thanks. No, it's actually the combine's time. And we're going to have every head coach and GM talk. And they're going to dominate the conversations and the headlines and the storylines. And more people will watch the combine and these guys running and jumping than they're going to watch your NBA regular season game. They still do NBA regular season games? They do. Are you sure? And it's a hard watch. Well, I wouldn't know. It's a hard watch. I've tried in the past. Well, it's a lot of load management, and guys play when they want to play and don't play. And it's all about, really, the playoffs, so the regular season just doesn't matter very much. I hope the Sonics come back, but I can't promise I'll watch them a lot once they do. It's just a tough watch for me. Tough product. All right. This was something I heard yesterday from John Schneider that just jumped out to me, and a lot of his stuff was looking forward. This is one looking back a little bit. But I found it to be very telling. on what happened with the Seahawks this past year and one of the reasons they ended up winning the Super Bowl. Cut 12 from John Schneider. He was asked about the Sam Darnold trade, and this jumped out to me. Well, just collectively as a group, you know, offensive staff, our head coach, Leslie Frazier, you know, just really about how Sam, like the experience compared to a college guy, and it's drastic. So we were all in it together, and that process really, like, again, And we're down here trying to figure out what the landscape's going to look like. And so that was a crazy week. It went really fast. But everybody was on board on the person, the competitor, the leader. And so, yeah, that compared to a college draft choice, the difference was significant in our eyes. The Darnell signing was brilliant. Right? It is a brilliant signing. It worked out. It worked out better than expected. They won a Super Bowl. It couldn't have been better. I find it telling that they were so confident in the rest of their roster at the end of last year or heading into this season that they felt like they needed a guy that was instantly going to be better and give them a better chance to win than anyone that they could spend a draft pick on. I think that is very telling. It was wise. It's great self-scouting. They did it all perfectly. And I think that maybe it starts there with a belief in themselves that they were a lot closer than other people think or thought. Now, that often goes awry for GMs and for managers and coaches who think they're closer than they really are. And they say, well, we've got to compete right now. We've got to bring in this guy and that guy. It's like, yeah, you didn't actually have that nucleus that you needed. Seahawks did. They played it exactly right. You're not trading for Brendan Donovan three years ago here. That's right. You're not doing that. That's a good point. Right now, he is the cherry on top, and he is the, I forget how Am Singer characterized it, but he did it beautifully. Yep, that's the piece that you get when you're ready to be a World Series contending team. I think he called him the Polish. The Polish, that's exactly right. Good job, Maura. She's in peak mode right now. Man, her speed explosion. By the way, Colt Emerson has been spotted. He's in the gym. Oh, all right. So they're hoping he'll come here soon. Yeah, Mariners don't make that move and give up who they gave up three years ago for Brennan Donovan. You weren't ready for the Polish. They're ready for the polish this year. And I think to your point, you better read that room right. Now, I will say this about Sam, too. One of the things that I think plays into it to a degree with John is they go back to their initial scouting as well. They trust. Why do they bring all these guys in for visits, the top 30 visits? Why do they do and interview players that they're not even going to have a shot to draft in some of these years? Because you do your work. Because you do your intel. because your grades and where you see these guys is terribly important, you know, for down the road. And when that time may come that that player is available. Or when you're playing against them and you know a little bit more about who they are. This guy was a top five pick, this guy and Sam Darnold. And there were ghosts and there were scars and there was wounds and all of those things, right, in the past. But there was that talent when he came out. And John has believed in that. He has made moves for better or worse. Some have hit, some have not. Jamal and Percy. And I mean, these guys were all first round picks, right? Luke Jokul was a top 10 pick way back. Like, you know, there's some traits there and some talent there. And then ultimately last year's draft class with the quarterbacks as well was just not going to be a fit. It's just not a fit. And we pivot from Gino. We take a big swing. And to your point, man, that swing and that home run could not have been hit any better. Yeah, I mean, just absolutely ideal. But it does, I think, start with knowing thyself and having a pretty good sense of who you want to be. So John speaking yesterday. So did Jerry DiPoto. He spoke with MLB Network. And we just saw Jerry walk by, and he's been pretty active and around and available for everybody so far here this spring. So he was asked, all right, cut number five here. What's it going to take? How do you take the next step and get all the way to the World Series? Cal and Julio will be at the center of what we do. I think generally speaking, the guys just have to go out and do what they do, you know, hit on what they do. It's we've got established players, major league stars up and down the lineup. I think we're deep. I like our our platoon setups that we've put in place. And the biggest thing for us is, you know, our starting pitching stays healthy. We are we are really built on our starting pitching and our depth. And I think that is the most critical thing for us. If our starting pitchers are healthy for one hundred sixty two games, I like our chances of being a good team. You know, we don't get into list season in baseball nearly as much as we do in football. I don't know why. Yeah, I think there's differing and varying reasons for that. You tend to know through the draft, football players and teams and all of that, and fantasy football. A little bit more of a national sport. Yeah, and you got all the fantasy numbers and everything else. But again, back to that CBS list that I just happened to look at last night of both pitching and offense, you know what else they did? They ranked the top 10 at every position in baseball. and it's telling that Jerry starts that conversation there with who? Julio and Cal and then the pitching because that is still from a national standpoint in the national eye and even your own production-wise. I would hope even in the local eye. I mean, that is what they're doing. Julio was the number one center fielder. Cal Raleigh was the number one catcher. Did they have another position player in the top ten? Of any position? Left field, right field, third base, shortstop, second base, first base. Yeah, probably not. They did not. Josh Naylor wasn't in the top ten. He was not. That seems a little weak. I don't know if I would agree with that. It was a little bit, but when he looked at the names, you're like, oh, okay. They're all pretty good. Yeah, they're all pretty good players. And I was like, left field? You know, Randy's not cracking that? And, you know, I think both were honorable mention. They were right there. Yeah, I mean, both those guys, I think that would be a matter of opinion. I think you could make a case pretty strongly for both of them to be in the top ten of their position. But whatever. That's quibbling. You're right about the idea. What is this thing built on? We said it yesterday. the depth of the lineup, the overall strength of the lineup, but led by your superstar in Cal and the guy who's right next to him in Julio. And then, of course, your rotation. Munoz on there? Yes. Okay. I would hope that Andres Munoz would be in there as well. Top 10 reliever, and I believe three of the top 30 pitchers. Yeah, and I think you start looking at Brash. I don't know if they did top setup guys, but the whole setup situation that they have is so strong day-to-day that I think you look, yeah, all those things. I saw someone yesterday online. I think I saw this through Churchill. I think he's jumping on with Bump and Stacey later today, our friend Jason Churchill from Prospect Insider. And he had retweeted some jamoke who was saying this whole idea of the Mariners being great is flawed and it's all about they just don't have pitching depth. And all of their pitchers were hurt at one point last year other than this. And so now they're all injury risks. And so they're overblown. They're overrated. Okay. All right, like hot take, fine. This is another one of these cases where I look at it and say, you're not wrong. I think you're just drawing too big a conclusion. I think it's fair to worry about the Mariners rotation staying healthy. You just heard Jerry say it. Everything is predicated on that for all 30 teams, but especially for this Mariner team that is built with that as its centerpiece. They need their starting pitching to stay healthy. Those are your first-round pick, first-round pick, first-round pick, first-round pick. Those guys, as Logan said, that have all grown up together and are friends with one another and have a very unique relationship that other people don't have. Yeah, that thing's got to be firing. That's the engine. So obviously. And I think there is some legitimate depth concern after those five guys. See what goes on with Emerson Hancock this year. We've talked about Dane Dunning as a possibility. Jonathan Diaz is still around. There's a couple other guys. So it's not like they have nothing. but you know i with no logan evans you're you're a little that's on the watch list of potential concerns but it really is hard for me to make that jump from this is on the watch list this is a potential concern to well they're clearly overrated because these guys are all going to get hurt like dude come on like that is a major leap in analysis yes based on something that we can all see as a possibility well and again i think that is just a very myopic look as well we're not realize it you want to do that study on 29 well right and then the response was also well four of those five guys were on the il last year and all they did was win the division and come eight outs away from that's right getting to the world series so you know by the way you've got a young wave that you didn't have necessarily yeah and this person felt like those guys were too young and you know like they're too far away they were only in single a yeah like trey savage last year right I mean, like the game has just changed enough where a pitcher who was in single A last year is not that far from being in the big leagues. Remember a few years ago, it was Bryce Miller and Brian Wu who started the year in double A. And a couple of weeks and months later, bang, here they were in the majors and contributing as very successful young pitchers. Personal question for you just came to my mind. All right. We've been a lot of serious talk here, a lot of serious talk. We're a morning show. We're about more than just, you know, serious talk. We're a morning zoo, kind of. So, Salky, if you had to be a position coach in baseball, A, could you, and B, of any kind of – and you could take coaching any which way here in this whole facility. I could be any coach here. Any coach here. What would you be wired, and could you, would you? I mean, I think I'd probably be wired to be a bench coach. Yeah. I think I'd like to be the bench coach. You'd like to be the bench coach. Yeah. I can see that. No real job. there's no i mean there's no one specific job of the bench coach other than to be a sounding board and essentially to help the manager with his verbal processing yep that what i do what is manny acta doing here he a verbal processor I not even seen Manny He just hangs out I saw Manny walk in this morning with Perry Hall Did you Yeah And they have different jobs and it different on every team Some guys are a sounding board. Some guys handle more of the decision-making in-game. Does he get himself ready by just talking to Danny up and down the hallways, bouncing ideas out? Some guys are like, what was that guy who works with Gus Johnson? Scotty. He's hype man. Scotty. Some guys are just the hype man. Dad's like, okay, we're ready to go. You got it, Skip. Great call, Skip. You know, there's a lot of information to try to remember, and I think they work with the manager to do that. Some guys are the disciplinarian or the bad guy, so the manager can be the good guy. Some are the good guy so that the manager can be the bad guy. I don't know what you would be on that one. I'm a good cop, bad cop. You've shown it the last two days. There are a lot of different ways that job can go. Yeah, I think that does fit you. But I think it would be a great job. I love the – I mean, nobody blames you when it goes wrong, but you get to just kind of sit and talk through the game the whole time? That's pretty good. Seems pretty great. I would totally geek out as a pitching coach. No. Yeah. That's not your job. What? Brock. Stop it. Oh, yeah. Assistant strength coach. Yeah. Let's be very clear. Brock wants to be the assistant strength coach. Do not even conditioning. Do not even pretend that there is any other job in this facility that you would rather have. No, that's fair. That's fair. So we were at the game yesterday, all of us. We're sitting in the press box. And Donovan, I'm sorry, Dom Canzone hit a screaming Mimi foul ball back up towards the box. Yes. And we were all sitting in the second row. And the windows are open. Now, it would be virtually impossible for a ball to be at an angle where it cleared the screen and then made it through that window with an upwards trajectory. It would have to be coming back down. There's no way just from an angle. Windows were open? Yeah. The lower part. The lower, just the lower part. So they open the windows up. They're like pull-up windows. There's no way it could come in and hit us. Correct. It would have been impossible. With the net. Yeah. But this ball was coming right at me. I've never had a foul ball come at me in my life. Ever. Ever. I've sat in, I don't know how many baseball games. I've never come close. You've never caught a foul ball. Never caught? Brock, I've never been close to a foul ball. I am like foul ball repellent. It has never come anywhere near me. Interesting. This thing was coming straight at me. Oh, right at you. Right at me. Yes. And I was ready. I knew there was no way I could get it because there was a window between me and the ball. But I was ready. I put my hands out. I took like a half step back just to be careful. And I was absolutely ready to catch this ball. I'm glad you were because I was right next to you and I was not. It was hit a little to my right. You were on my left. You were safe. Maura froze. But I mean, it was to my forehand side, like everything about it. Yes. And then it smashed and broke the window. Never seen it. No. Never seen it in all my years of being in press boxes. I've never seen a baseball window broken. Yep. This isn't like a window at your house. Now, thankfully, the window, as Tim Heavley said, did its job. Yes. Its job was not to shatter. True. Such a loud thud. Oh, it was like, you know, when you get a ding on your windshield and a rock comes up. Which happens a lot here. What is the deal driving around here in Arizona? It's dry. Brock, I have not taken a single drive here where I haven't heard something clip the window. It's crazy. But this thing was coming in hot. And it spiderwebbed the whole window. And it's too bad because I won. You were ready? If it had come all the way through. It was going to be your first. If it had come through and I had caught it through a broken window, Where would that have stood on legendary catches? Oh, I would have gotten up, and I would have absolutely bowed to you. Can you imagine catching a ball coming through a broken window? Do you know how much you would complain about your hand hurting? Because that ball was coming. Oh, it would have really hurt. But the window would have taken some of the edge off that, right? Yes. Oh, 100%. If that window wasn't there, you were not catching the ball. No, that would have really hurt. That might have broke your hand. No, I would have caught it. I was ready. Let's do some Blue 88. This is Brock and Sox Blue 88. We're going to go red, right, tight, close, sprint, left, G, U corner, halfback, flat, on one, on one, ready. Brock Heward tackles three football questions as only he can. Boo and hit! Now here's your hosts, Brock Heward and Mike Salk. All right, a couple minutes of football talk here as we roll on from spring training. It does sound like Logan Gilbert here in about, what, 45 minutes. We may have Ryan Sloan. I thought we were going to have Colt Emerson, but I don't know whether that's going to go down based on it. We'll see. The assistant strength coach is not going to interrupt his workout. No. I will not do that. No. Well, we'll see what goes on here. Brock, 11 ESPN analysts predicted the Super Bowl combatants for next year in L.A. How many think the Seahawks are going to repeat their way back there? How many of the 11? This includes Field Yates and lots of their different Graziana. I think it's hard because I think a lot of them are going to take the Rams. How many of them put some respect on the Super Bowl champs? This roster, this youth, Sam Darnold. Three or four. How many of the 11 picked the Seahawks to get back? Two or three, three or four, two to four, somewhere in that range. None. One. Ooh. One. We got one. Who was it? One for 11. Who was it? I don't even care. Of course you got to care. No, I was so disgusted by it. Fuck. Okay, well, let me put my head in these. At least put some respect on that guy or gal's name. That's not right. I'll put my Ebeneezers on. If somebody actually does, you know, something you like, you got to give them a shout out. Yeah, it was Rams. It was Rams. It was Commanders. Good job, Tannenbaum. It was Packers. It was everybody. It's Rams by Fowler. It's Bears. It's Bears. It's Packers. It was Eric Moody. I don't know who that is. Me neither. Okay. Football fantasy analyst. I knew every other name, Salk, but Eric Moody. And Moody is picking the Broncos and the Seahawks. He was the only one of 11. More Packers, more Bears, Rams won. I think they got more than half of the votes, to your point, with Stafford coming back. So respect, national respect, not so much. Not so much for our Seattle Seahawks. And you know what? Just the way that Mike and company like it. They won't have any problem with it. But yeah, just one of 11. I was a little surprised. Like you, I would have said three or four. Here's the good news. Moody, that's who it was? Yeah. Isn't Moody's the company that ranks stocks and rates how a stock is? Isn't that Moody's? Yeah. Well, so if anybody is qualified to figure out which stock. You think Eric Moody comes from the Moody's? I'm hoping that he maybe comes from the Moody family who started Moody's stock analysis. All right. And he's looking at the Seahawks, analyzing, and thinks that there's a lot of room for growth. Great. That sounds pretty good. Let's do question number two. That is morning zoo radio for you right there. Talking Moody Stock and Alistair when it comes to the Seahawks. Question number two, Brock. John Schneider, we mentioned this earlier. Yeah, play the credit one more time. I'll try not to go quite as loudly this time about the Jets because I don't think John meant to take a shot at the old Jets. But that's what the Combine has become. When you have two decades of continuity, as the Seattle Seahawks have, you're not going there with the same optics as many other teams are. Yeah, John went into some depth about exactly what this has become for him in particular. That cut number 11. The Combine's become a little bit more about, like I said earlier, about what the free agency and trades and what's the spring going to look like. And then we just kind of, the medical portion's huge. And, you know, it basically started because, you know, the Jets drafted a guy that was legally blind in one eye. So the medical part's huge for us. And then all the interviews, the character, the person, and then it all just kind of starts, you know, building. These guys are going on Monday. They're starting to go to schools, you know, to go to the pro days. It's like a reset. Like, all right, here we go. We're moving, you know. And we don't know what next week. I mean, here we go. Like, we're going to be in the free agency next week. I can't tell you what it's going to look like as of today. So it really becomes down, as I listen to that, it boils down to three things. It's the market, it's the market, and it's the market, stupid. It is Sunday night, Monday night, Tuesday night, the last three nights, tonight, Wednesday night, four nights. And it's, you know, at L, at the different establishments there, it's at the different hotel rooms, it's having some drinks with the different agents, and it's getting a feel for what the market is. That's number one. Number two, it is the medicals. And that's a big deal for their team. big, big deal for Sam Ramsden and his whole team there to make sure that they can project and they know exactly what they're getting. And then lastly, it's those interviews. It's walking in the room. How are you going to fit with our team? How are you going to be a Seattle Seahawk? How much do you truly love this game of football and fit into this culture to care about one another? So I think it's more about that than it is even the 40 times on the field. All right, question number three. All right, speaking of free agency, Brock, NFL Network did all the top 100 free agents out of some of the potentially departing Seahawks right on that list. Yeah, and I think it was Greg Rosenthal. So I'll do this kind of like John Schneider looks at the draft. How does John look at the draft? Here's this clump of players all within this range. Here's this clump of players all within this range. Here's the outlier and the unique one. Well, the Seahawks, Greg Rosenthal did this over at the NFL Network. 10, 11, and 12. 10, 11, and 12. That's K-9. that's Boye and that's Rashid Shahid, 10, 11, 12. And then you drop down and it's Kobe and Rik at 38, 39. But when it's all said and done, it's five of the top 40 free agents. And I can't ever remember that happening with the Seahawks. Can you? No. Having five impending unrestricted free agents within the top 39 because they have taken care of their own. Because it doesn't usually get to that point, right? And, well, it's gotten to that point because there's a couple that they are not going to let go. And I think Maura was reporting one of the things Schneider said kind of off the mic was, yeah, just because we've always done deals with one year remaining, never two, they don't put JSN and Spoon in that same bucket because that's a fifth-year option. Right. So in many ways, they are going to view this like they did Charles Cross. That's a little way for us to get around our own rules. That's exactly right. Yeah, that makes sense. That's today's Blue 88. 570 says, Salk, you should be glad that glass didn't completely shatter your wrist was going to look like Roy Rogers' feet in Die Hard. That's pretty good. Shoot the glass. I don't know. I think I could have made the catch. If that's the case, let's see where John Morningstar and Chuck Schwab have him ranked. Okay, that's fine. And by Salk, your logic, you should have cured COVID because your last name was Salk. Well, I almost did, obviously. I think that was a possibility. All right, we're going to take a quick break. We'll come back. We'll see where all this goes. we know that Logan's going to join us at 8.30 after that it's all a big mystery it's Brock and Salk, CL Sports on 710