Hour 4-Brock's Draft Profile, and ESPN's Jeff Passan

Get in the freaking auto! From the Quantum Fiber Studio, this is Brock and Salk on Seattle Sports. Brock Eward is my hero. James Hewitt just punched me in the kidney. I was gonna use you to a minute. That ain't work that way, Sherm. This is a show that has my name on it. It's gotta turn though. Now here are your hosts, Brock Eward and Mike Salk. Hello! Hello! Hello! Yeah, there we go. Thank you. Appreciate you, 206. Love the storytelling, but this must be what filibustering feels like. Thank you. Nice. Makes us feel really good. Try to tell you the story of how we got here and lasted for 17 years. And maybe the story lasted a good portion of those 17 years. Sorry about that. Anyway, headshots from 2008 or it didn't happen. There are some out there. There are some pictures from the early years. They're not pretty. Do you know what I do remember? And I think it was Lumberg 1. I think it was Owen. It was like, you know what? We're gonna use your college football travel since you leave and you're running around, you're taking red eyes. And we got this guy named John Clayton, the professor who was so dialed in, and you two are gonna do these draft profiles. And it was, I think even before this was remodeled, like we taped in the studio and John was so amazing. It was like, okay, well, how long do you want? Well, let's make it about 15. Okay, 15, here we go. And three, two, one. It was like, oh my God. But also two. Yeah, oh, you need 30? Okay, here we go. We'll do it in 30. You need 30 seconds, 31. Like he was- Okay, I got my timer and here we go. Of course, you got your braille peppers. It was incredible. Like it was just, and we did some of these draft profiles together and then eventually just kind of did them on my own, but John's such a big part of all that. Huge, huge part of it. Well, we are 12 days away, Brock, 12 shows away anyway from getting to the NFL draft. And so without further ado, it is time for Brock's draft profiles. The Seattle Seahawks. This is Brock Hewitt's draft profile. You want traits? Check. You want to vote the leader? Check. At the end of the day, you have to say, okay, what's best for your organization? Can you make people around you better and can you bring people together? Every day, leading up to the draft. So Salki had a few hours on the plane yesterday and kind of like John Clayton, I sat next to him one time on a trip from ESPN in his old database. Remember Johnny's database? Was Johnny's database on the computer? Did he pull it out? Was on a tablet? Oh, no, no. Johnny's database was a lot like my database right here. It was printed out Excel spreadsheet. It was printed out Excel spreadsheets. It was the best ever. I love that. Mora smiling in there. Mora knows she's seen those databases too. You have kind of like a little metal finder thing that you carry it around. He called his database. It was his database. So you know what? For my 2027 draft profiles on my folder right here in paint homage to the late, great John Clayton, professor. There it is. Right there, Salki. You don't get to see all the details. No, I tried to look at that. I tried to scan it. No, would you get to your profile? Will you shut your mouth? Geez, you just got to talk for half an hour and tell our story. You don't tell me what to do. That was a much longer segment than this one. Plus I got right to the point. Well, number 12, nothing from any of those program directors. Yes, I'll tell you what I learned. I'll tell you what I learned, honestly, is the strength of that. When you do an exercise, you spend three or four hours digging through some of these different numbers. You do realize like the strength of this draft is 25 through 75. Like these 50 players, I'm like, I don't, I think I could take a ton of these guys. And it was really hard. I thought, well, I'm not going to have 12. I'd like 32 to whittle down to 12. And I'm going to start number 12 with a right guard. Roger Tacoma, if you're listening, I'm buttering you up right now, buddy. You want a guard? I'll give you a guard. His name is Keedlin Rutledge, offensive guard, and not just a guard, a right guard, with 43 starts for the rambling rec at Georgia Tech. You know what they do at Georgia Tech Salt? They run the freaking ball. They are in- Triple option, right? They did, they got away from some of that over the last few years. That was a little of the predecessor, but this new coach is a line of scrimmage, physical, and they move people. And Keedlin Rutledge, I was texting with DJ yesterday on the plane. I said, I remember watching the combine. I like this guy. And he's at his top 50. You're talking about one of these guys that's not, he's not first round. I don't think he's, if you took him at 32, it'd be a bit of a reach. He is closer to that 50 range, but that 25 to 75 is where about every one of my guys are going to be. And this one's a little on the lower because he is a guard. And there are some other guys, but what do I love about him? He's 6'4", 3'16". He's not short, squatty little arms. He's 32 and a half. He jumped 32 inches. Yeah, 32 and a half inch arms. He jumped 32 on his vert. He ran about a five flat. But what I love is he's unapologetically a guard and he's missing just one G. He's missing one G or you could spell rugged in his last name. So if I got that Greg Williams G, that second G on his first name, I could spell rugged with his last name. And you're going to hear me use that adjective a lot over these 12 pro. Give me just line of scrimmage. Outside he can be pretty and you can be fast and you can be Rashid Shahid and you can look really good and really drippy. But if you're at the line of scrimmage, you know what I want? I want really nasty rugged. And this is the toughest dude in the draft. Multiple people told me that. Give me the nastiest, meanest, fire-breathing, rip your head off, unapologize, unapologetic about it. It's Keelan Rutledge. Last thing on him. Multisport athlete. When I think of Gray Zable, you know what I really loved? I love watching him take BP at T-Mobile. You like the athleticism. I love the athleticism. When I watch Abe Lucas and all of his little workout videos, like dude, he loves to workout. He loves to train his body. He loves to move. When I look at Charles Cross run on the field, he's a 225 pound guy that just happens to be 325. Keelan Rutledge was a shot put champ. He was an all state basketball player. He was a three sport stud. And oh, by the way, if you want to flavor this in one more Seahawk way, guess what else he has? Grit. He had a terrible car accident in college. Bad. Nearly like it was a bad, bad deal. And you know what? He still didn't miss one start. Didn't miss one start. So he's got a little grit. He's got a whole lot of toughness. And he's got a multisport background for a people mover at the line of scrimmage. He could be a right guard that would very much push Mr. Bradford at that spot. All right. That is the first of 12 draft profiles for Brock Heward this year. That came out good. Once you got going, it was good. There was a lot in there. And you sold me. I'm in. Yeah. Yeah, you'd like him. Toughest guy in the draft. Meanest guy in the draft. Meanest. Sounds good. Meanest. Toughest. I want the meanest guy in the draft. There's a guard from A&M I like. Just a little bit more working. Maybe not quite as much. You start to check all these boxes. Now, he will be one over the next 10 to 12 days that the medicals will be a big deal. He could be one that I learned sometimes after the fact, like, yeah, we really liked him. But that car accident, that deal, that's just, he's got some stuff there that we just, our team's not comfortable with. And they are very invested in their commitment to health and projection and all the work they do behind the scenes with those medicals. And they've gotten a lot of them right over the years. So that would be the only real red flag there. It's not the mentals. It's not the physicals. It's not the want to. It's not the leverage. It's not finishing people. It's not aggression. It's not any of that. It would just be the medical maybe. Well, the 209 is not buying it. It says, please cover all the smoke around the Hawks going interior O-line early, because they're bringing back 13 of 13 linemen for 2025. They are. No, they are. They absolutely are. It's a fair point. No, I think that's a real, honestly, as I put this together, I had like three or four. It's not a top need. I mean, I think if you're looking needs, you're probably going in. Oh, let's see. I got eight defensive ends and I got four corners that I had to sit for. Defensive end running back, which there aren't a lot of in the draft. And then probably guard or center would be next. Right? I mean, like you're looking a little ways down the road, but it doesn't mean that you shouldn't cover them because if you got an opportunity to get a really great right guard at 64, maybe take that. Let's just say on their grading of a one to 100. Let's say he's an 80 and there's a DB there or corner at 68, what are they going to do? They're going to take the 80. They're going to take the best player available. They're going to take JSN. They're going to take Byron Murphy. They're going to take the best crazy able. They're going to take the best player available. I don't think they're going to play a whole lot of games around position of need versus best available. Go get the best talent. We'll figure out the rest. Two five three says I moved to Africa in 07. I was pretty homesick. I missed talking sports with friends, discovering your show as a podcast allowed me to have those conversations, even if it was just me arguing with Salt-Clock and invisible friend. Loyal listener ever since. Thank you guys. All right, we got you two five three. We're here for you. Another two five three says, can you replay the entire Sherman interview to celebrate? No, no, that's probably probably not going to happen. 206 I just tuned in. Was there some sort of announcement or salt just telling the Brock and Salk story again? No, just telling the story. It was our anniversary birthday yesterday. And then finally 570 asking, so John Clayton's database was just a trapper keeper? Yeah, pretty much. We'll be back with everything you need to know next. Highlights don't win games. The full box score does. I'm Brock Huird and most business leaders aren't short on data. They're short on clarity. Numbers are scattered across ERP, CRM's 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 datathetwins.com to see what Marquee IQ can do. We are Seattle Sports. 7 10 AM 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. Old Windows cost you money and security. Lake Washington Windows and Doors installs energy efficient, high security windows that lower your bills and increase protection. With leak armor installation and lifetime warranties, you're protected for life. Choose LakeWashingtonWindows.com today. Want the inside scoop on the Mariners? Sign up for Mariners mail and 24 24 7 texts to get access to exclusive pre-sales, special ticket offers, breaking news and more. Go to mariners.com slash insider and text Mariners to 24 24 7. Need to Know. 15 minutes passed every hour with Brock and Salk. Presented by Marquee Data. Here's what you need to know. Up first. Yeah, I'm wishing that we were not continuing to have these same conversations. They feel old with the Mariners and feel like things we've had too many times. But once again, they're not hitting to start the year. They're four and seven after losing their third straight game yesterday. This one in Texas, thankfully, it featured the first home run of the year from Cal. Pitch it bad next offer. Swing it a drive deep to right field. There she goes. Goodbye baseball number one for Cal Raleigh. He hit 60 bombs last year. There's number one and that was on pitch. I believe number 12 off a Jake to Grom. Holy smoke straightaway right field. A tremendous hit back for Cal Raleigh. And the Mariners have a one nothing lead here in the top of the first inning. And he got it all. What an event off of Jacob to Grom. Yeah, I was pretty good. Unfortunately, that was it. There was no other offense. One other hit. Two for 28 on the day. Randy had one other hit and that was pretty much it. And he even got him out after five. They had a bunch of good at bats. That one the best of the whole game. But it wasn't like to Grom shoved for seven into the eighth. You got to their bullpen. And that bullpen is not supposed to be very good. It's not very good. Not very good. No, you just didn't hit it. So the battle of Stetson starters went to Jacob to Grom as Logan Gilbert was just as good. I mean, he went six innings and gave up just to run. Certainly a quality start. But not enough as Dan Wilson knows. Another tough low scoring one tonight. Can't say enough about the job Logan did. I thought he pitched extremely well for six innings. Again, quality start for us. And I thought he was very aggressive. And gave us what we had to. He put us in the position to come back and win that game and through the ball well. And he turned it over to the bullpen that I thought did the same. You know what I bet Logan is? A tendency breaker. I bet he's one of those guys that does look into a lot of his pitches and a lot. Because he's a tinkerer with everything, right? Like, how do I change it up? How do I do it a little differently? And maybe there is something where with his kind of awkward delivery, maybe guys start to lock in on it over time. And maybe he has to do that a little bit more. There was a lot of mix yesterday, right? Change up and splitter. Yeah, it's a good question. And you know, you hadn't had the two greatest outings to start the year. So to come back and throw six innings two runs, obviously pretty important for Logan. And maybe that and the Cal home run are the things to take away. But you don't really like to go out and hit tonight. Yep. Everybody's going to have two, three, four game losing streaks. You'd like to kind of, especially with this rotation, just put that to a stop. You'd like to go for Sierra. Wouldn't want to go for serious though, winning one. That's right. Right. Like at some point you want to start winning series and you would definitely, if you're going to do it, you got to win tonight. It'll be George Kirby taking the ball against Nathan of Aldi. So it's not like the road gets easier. Avaldi today, Mackenzie Gore tomorrow, but you got to find a way to get it done. Here's the second thing you need to know. So I would like Miles Garrett. There was a texture earlier that said that that was my worst take, that he's a bad person and a team killer. Is he? I've not heard that about Miles Garrett. I know he had the one incident that was- You tried to kill Mason. I mean, with the helmet. But there was also some suggestion that there was a pretty good reason for it. Some suggestion. I mean, the guys never flown off the handle like that ever before or since. So I have not had that. I mean, it was there supporting Chloe Kim at the Olympics. He sure seems like a pretty good guy from the outside. Can you blame Miles Garrett for what the Browns have done to themselves? That's ridiculous. I don't see that at all. If Miles Garrett is available, the CEO should trade for him. End of story. He's awesome. He might be the single best player in the league. That's one thing to get all excited about, Trey Hendrickson's another thing to get all excited about Max Kross. It's just better. They're worth getting excited about. But you're talking about one of the five most talented players in the NFL and there's not a debate about that. And he fits exactly what you are, what you need, what you'd want. He would love it here. I think it would be just an eye-opening experience. 28. He was drafted in 17. He was the number one pick in 17. So what? 9 years. 30? 31? 31. Is he really that old? I don't know. He was really young coming out of A&M. I think he was really, really young. He's 30. Yeah, he's 30. He's 30. Yeah. He'll turn 31 at the end of the year. Okay. That still makes the deal. Still really, really, really good. But he is a little older than I realized. That's fair. Okay. Yeah. Awesome. I would still make that deal. As for Dexter Lawrence, I don't think that's a great fit. If you'd like the basics on this story, here is Ian Rappaport. Best case scenario for both sides is for a contract situation that makes Dexter Lawrence and the Giants happy. In other words, a new deal where everyone can agree, this guy who's been basically the face of their defense for the last several years, one of the best defensive linemen in the NFL, at times the best defensive linemen in the NFL, that puts him in a Giants uniform for years to come. That would be the best case scenario. A trade would come, one, if the Giants decided they wanted to part way with one of their great defenders who wreaks havoc in the middle of their defense, and two, if another team wanted to pay for a 28-year-old defender making $20 million, so as you mentioned, Tom, is not coming off his best season. Thanks, Ian. Doesn't feel like a fit here. No. 28, you want a quick list? And we don't have time for stories. I'll tell you one minute story right after. The next need to know. Here's the third thing you need to know. The best scenario is they work out a deal. The next scenario is they could trade them. Thanks. It's great. Do you want to go down the Kraken Road again? I can't do this too many more times, but I'll give you a little bit of lane-lamber because they got killed again last night, gave up another six goals, and it's four straight loss. Just playing awful hockey. It is just a terrible way to end this season, and lane-lamber, it sounds kind of embarrassed. I thought our structure was okay on their second goal. Again, we don't make a play, and the third goal, our structure was all right on that one as well, and it goes off lingering and in the net, so these are just things that are happening right now, and we've got to stop the bleeding. It's about, for me, it's about pride right now. Buh, it's about pride. That's not a good sign when you're having that kind of conversation, pretty ugly. Congrats to the Michigan Wolverines Brock. They won the national title yesterday. Big 10, baby. Big 10. Ho, ho, ho, Hoosiers, Wolverines and Bruins. What? It's weird that it's not flip-flopped. What do you mean? That the Hoosiers didn't win basketball, and Michigan didn't win football. All right, that's everything you need to know. Quarter past every hour here in the Brock and Salchow. Do you remember years ago, speaking to the Wayback Machine, when I took the boy Howdy with me to Clemson in South Carolina? Sure do, he's eating pizza in bed. To tape the Above and Beyond podcast. Absolutely disgusting. And he was eating. Revolting person. Eating pizza in your bed, using the sheets as napkins. Just wiping off with the sheets on the bed, just revolting. Yes, and thinking of him sitting in our meetings. Isn't that where he was during the role-player coughing fit? Yes. Right? That was in Atlanta. That was you were in Atlanta in that hotel? Yes. That was where you were for the role-player coughing fit. But I think of that because that D-line room that we sat with, Christian Wilkins. Yeah. Okay, and then weird incident there in Vegas, Christian Wilkins, Cleveland Farrell, and Dexter Lawrence. Three dudes. There you go. Mr. Professor Clayton, if you were gonna. How you were rocking it? Rocking it along. We're getting along really well actually. It's been an interesting process. But if you were gonna be a part of a live-action role-playing group, what weapon do you think that you would be using? A role-play group? What would have, what would have, what would have, what would have, John, where you gonna let you go? John, you gotta go, go get some water. That's enough. We're not, you have to stop. Go get some water. That's enough. That's enough, John. We'll hear from you at 10 o'clock. Oh my God, we have to let him go. That was December 2018, Brock. Late December, almost Christmas 1221, 2018. Boy, howdy, almost killing John Clayton by asking him a difficult question. All right, it sounds like Jeff Passon's gonna join us next. How about that? He's done with his work. He's gonna join us. We'll talk to Jeffrey to finish out the show next, on Brock and Salk. 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. 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 datathewins.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. Old windows cost you money and security. Lake Washington Windows and Doors installs energy efficient, high security windows that lower your bills and increase protection. With leak armor installation and lifetime warranties, you're protected for life. Choose Lake Washington Windows.com today. Get up, sock. It's Block and Socks, weekly chat with ESPN senior baseball writer, Jeff Passett. Ma'am, when you have a talent like him. Brought to you by your Western Washington Toyota dealers. I see this being the beginning of the best run in the history of this franchise. On Seattle Sports and Seattle Sports on YouTube. Jeff's gonna be with us in just a minute, just wrapping up the interview that he's currently recording. And then we will talk with Jeff, Jonathan and Paul's both saying, oh man, I'd forgotten about that John Clayton sound bite. I wonder how much longer he would have gone if Saul hadn't cut him off. He'd still be going. John was like the Terminator. There's nothing you could, you had to literally like hang up the phone because he would have tried to power through anything. He would power through being sick. He would power through being on vacation. I like there was nothing that would keep John from doing a segment that he had said he was going to do. Honestly, I'm surprised the death has not, has kept Clayton from doing his segments. I mean, like we miss John. I'm honestly surprised he hasn't found a way to have left recordings or something so that he would still do segments every day. I mean, he just never said no to anything. Never. And it could be, you wanna do the 1 a.m. overnight hit? Yeah, what time? I'll be there at 12 30. Yeah, okay, can we tape at 12 30? Yeah, always, always and forever. This one says Brock and Salk shows the best thing. One of the best things in my life. My brother and I listened every day and then discussed. I was born a Seahawks fan. Salk talked to me and it would be a baseball fan. Now I listen to most Mariner games while I'm working. Thank you for the laughs and the fun sports discussion. Well, you're welcome. 17 years in yesterday, 17 years that this station has been doing. You know who would not have joined us 17 years ago yesterday? Jeff Passon. No, no. He would have wanted no part of this. No, no. And who could blame him? Yep. There wasn't a whole lot to join. Jeff, good morning. Thanks for finding some time for us. How are you? This is Cal Raleigh's fault, by the way. Okay. This is his phone? No, this is his fault. Oh, I thought you said you're calling on Cal Raleigh's phone right now. What happened? So why are you recording with Cal? Yeah, I would. I was recording with Cal, but I was only recording with Cal today because our original record date, I'm pretty sure he slept through it. And you, like, like, you know, you know, when you get that call from someone, and this is like, this is very Cal, like he is, you know, he's an incredible baseball player, but also he's just like a dude. And you know, sometimes dudes forget things. You probably don't know this name, Jeff. Do you know the name Adam Moore? He was a catcher for the Mariners in like 2011, 1011. That's a real deep part. There's no reason you should remember him, but Adam Moore was once supposed to be on this show at 1.45 p.m. And at 1.30, he had told me, text me at 1.30 to make sure I'm up for the 1.45 segment. That's true. Sure enough, text him, he's like, okay, I just got up, I was playing video games all night. I was like, God, Adam, that's a really sad state. Honestly, good for Adam Moore, but how many years did Adam Moore have? Not many, probably would have had more if he was awake a little earlier than two o'clock every day. All right. Well, I wanna hear about your interview with Cal. Can we start there? Is there anything you can tell us about it? Yeah, this is gonna be a podcast episode. And my, I'm finally, you know, everyone else had a podcast. I just got jealous, but we're starting it up. The first episode's gonna be running on TV, actually. Cool. So that's kind of exciting. And it's gonna, you know, the whole idea of it is, I'm very fortunate to talk to people inside the game and every person has a specific, not story necessarily, but perspective that they can offer. And the first episode is gonna be Tarik Scoobl and Paul Schienes together talking about pitching. And I wanna do an episode on what it's like to be a catcher. And I didn't think there was anybody better than Cal Rowley out there to explain the duties, the responsibilities, the necessities, everything that comes with this job that I think is kind of misunderstood. And he did an awesome job explaining all that and getting into all of the other Cal things that he tends to. Cool. So were you jealous or was this part of the new deal? No, this was part of the new deal. No, I just... You know, we're about the facts here. You know, the Brux Salks, we cut through that stuff. You weren't jealous about anything. You want a new deal? You want extension? No, no, no, are you kidding? Like, I don't wanna do more work. Yeah. I have no need for that, but I will say this. This is, it's not going to be, I think, a typical podcast. We're getting a little weird and it's got some inner activity and I think people are gonna dig it. I love it. You told him... And by the way, that doesn't surprise me at all. Of course you will do something, jokes aside. You will do something to make the podcast format unique and kind of change it a little bit. That doesn't surprise me at all. When does, so the first one debuts, when, just give me the dates on it and when does Cal come out? I believe Thursday is going to be the first one. We're still getting that taken care of, but that's gonna be like a four TV episode. The first full one, I believe, is gonna be a week from today. And what's it called? And that's gonna be... I haven't announced the name yet, but you know what? Screw it. It's going to be... Yeah, here's the thing. If you go and look for it like on your cable or on your TV provider, it's actually there. It's going to be called sources tell Jeff Passon. Little double meaning there, you know? Sources tell Jeff Passon. Okay, I like it. Yes. Very cool. Well, thank you. Nice job. Jeff, help me with something here. Is there something we can tell people today? Besides it's early, like it'd be really nice because I know it's early. You know it's early, Brock knows it's early, and deep in their heart of hearts, the fans who are watching this World Series bound team go four and seven to start the year. We all know it's early, but I think we're sick of hearing it year after year. Is there something else we can say today to help with the four and seven start other than it's early? No, not really. I mean, they're not like they're just, they're not hitting right now. I don't know if they have the worst batting average in the big leagues, but it's gotta be close there. And I know batting average is batting average. And you know, the fact that they're walking as much as they are as good, the fact that they're striking out as much as they are, you know, not so good. But I think it's just a matter of time. We saw this last year too. Where's the Mariners in the last place at the end of April? I don't think so, but they were four and seven. They were actually three and seven last year, and then they went on a bit of a run throughout the rest of April. Yeah, I mean, I'm just, you know, just looking right now at the numbers of the guys who are playing every day. Who are Rodriguez not having an extra base hit, 11 games into the season? Not ideal. Cal Raleigh only hitting his first home run last night and striking out 43% of the time. Not ideal either. And for the good things that we've seen this year, Brennan Donovan has been awesome and an excellent fit for this team. And Cole Young's emergence has been great and the power growing has been nice. But yeah, the bats have just straight up disappeared. That's that first series. And this team needs to be better offensively. Simple as that. And I think it's gonna be a matter of time. I don't think Cal Raleigh is gonna finish the season hitting 140 something. I don't think Cooley Rodriguez is gonna finish the season hitting 140 something. J.P. Crawford's gonna get on track. Josh Naylor is gonna be better, but yeah, they just have not hit at all. And for 10, 11 games that, you know, you accept it, once we get to 25 or 30, then that starts being problematic and you've dug yourself a hole that's really difficult to get out of. Fortunately, they're in the American League West. What are you seeing? I mean, we're kind of in the nitty gritty every day and we talk about it at Nauseum with some of these struggles and everything else and all the numbers right in front of us. You get to see on sources till Jeff pass in a little bigger picture and you get to see it in its entirety. I guess American League and American League West, what's jumped out to Jeff? American League, I think the Yankees look like the best team right now. And I'm not just saying that because they have the best record. Their pitching has been otherworldly and they've hit two. And with the Mariners, their pitching has been really good and they just haven't hit quite as much. But you look at the rest of the league guys, the Orioles don't look good. The Blue Jays are banged up. Like they have a lot of injury issues and I was just in Toronto yesterday sitting down with Dave Roberts and John Schneider for an episode on what it's like to manage game seven. And you know, Schneider was just going through the laundry list of injuries that he's had to deal with and losing Alejandro Kirk to thumb surgery and Cody Ponds to an E injury. Jose Boreos is out already. Like their pitching staff, Shane Bieber's out. Their pitching staff is a mess. There is no greater mess than the Boston Red Sox right now. They have, I think the worst record baseball at two and eight at this point. Then you go to the central. Nobody really in the central distinguished itself. And there's not really a scary team there. And then out West, I know the Astros got off to a hot start and they're hitting, but they've also given up, I think the most runs in the American League. The Angels, I get that they're six and five right now. I'm not buying it. The Rangers, I think the Rangers might actually be the biggest threat to the Mariners in the division and even their 500. So right now the American League looks like a big old pile of mediocrity. And that's a little surprising because frankly, I thought that that was going to be more the line of the National League except for the Dodgers. And in the National League, the Brewers have looked fantastic so far. The Pirates have looked good. Cincinnati, it's interesting seeing like the Mariners and the Reds, they've had very similar seasons so far, just in terms of difficult times, scoring runs, but good pitching. The difference is the Reds are seven and three and the Mariners are four and seven. So when I say it's early, that's what I mean that these small samples, they really do not indicate a whole lot about the trajectory of a team, but it's some of those little things that you can take away that maybe a couple months down the road, you saw the signs of early on in the season that it turned out are going to be true in a good way or maybe a not. Well, and I think that's why there's a little frustration. Look, we know, again, we saw them the exact same record this time last year. But I think the hope and Brock brought this up earlier, like the hope was not to win 90, the hope was to win closer to 100. And Julio's going to turn it around and be 30-30, but the hope is for Julio to be 40-40. And in order to do those things, like you can't wait until May or June, like you kind of have to get it going pretty quick. Yeah, I mean, it's nice that way, but the ultimate thing, Mike, is it not, I would rather them be doing this in August and September than in April and May. Of course. And we want all of it, right? Like we want them to from the jump be a juggernaut. Sometimes it doesn't happen, but that doesn't damn this team to a disappointing season. You learned anything new from sitting down with Cal? I did, but I gotta say that for the show. Oh, okay, all right. Can you work around it a little bit? Can you give me, can you just maybe hypothesize? Not sources tell, just Jeff Jeffrey's own thoughts. I think the cool thing about this show, this specific one in particular, is that it gave insight into what every day is like for him and all of the things that he has to juggle at the same time. And there was a question I asked, is catching more chess or crisis management? And his answer was yes. And I love the fact that simultaneously, he has to sit there when he's squatting behind the plate and not just think about the psychology of his pitcher and how he's feeling and what he might want to throw at a particular point, but also to understand everything else that's going on around you, the game situation, the batter who's coming to the plate, what's going on on the base pass and who he has to be responsible for there. It's just constant brain activity. And if you were, you know, he said this, like you can't take a pitch off. If you're not engaged on that one pitch, something is going to happen and it's not gonna be good. And so in addition to the physical elements of it, you know, he got hit in the nuts last night on a foul ball back. Not cool, not great, doesn't feel very good. I'll say this, I did learn that he got a custom jockstrap this year that has a big dumper written on it with the Mariners Try That logo. That is breaking news. Thank you, Jeff. It is. Yeah. You're welcome. I'm here for transactions and cup updates. Did he tell you that story in a high-pitched voice like in 80s comedy? He did not. It's in every Goonies and Ferris Bueller, like all of these 80s comics. Oh my God, and then the ball hit me. Like such a weird trope. So did you in any way, and I'm kind of curious on this front, and we asked Angie Mentink yesterday about it, and just kind of curious for your perspective of all your years of covering baseball. Do expectations weigh down baseball teams and individuals? I can, yeah. I think it depends on the team. I think it depends on the levels of confidence there. And I would believe that after last year that the Mariners would understand who they are. And it's why I think they're not panicking right now. It's because I think they know that they've been there, that they've done it, that they were a few outs away from advancing to the First World Series in franchise history, and that nothing changed between last year and this year. There are gonna be performances that differ from last year. I would be stunned not just because the beginning of the season, but I would be stunned if Cal Raleigh had 60 home runs again. I would have said that before the season started though. And so I think the expectations are reasonable and reasonably high for the Mariners because they've shown what they're capable of being. And if they're not going out and proving that and reiterating that, then it's a fair question to ask why. What has changed? Now, I think it's too early to ask that question, but if this doesn't turn around at some point in the near future, asking what's different between last year and this year is something that everyone's gonna be doing. Do you get an opportunity to see Emerson Hancock at all or hear about what he's done in these first couple of starts? Because he's making for some potentially interesting conversations down the road here. Yeah, what do you, I mean, this is a sincere question. What do you do when Bryce Miller comes back? You know, do you guys read Lance Bresdowski at all? Yeah. Okay, so Lance Bresdowski is as good of an analyst, I think of all of like the high level metric stuff when it comes to pitching as anyone there is. And from his newsletter yesterday, the first six words, Emerson Hancock's breakout is upon us. And you know, he's talking about the differences in like the release height of his four seamer, which is three inches lower this year. And the arm angle, which is down from 18 degrees to 13 degrees, which is lower than 97% of right handers in MLB. And what sort of effect that's having on his arsenal. And I give the Mariners is an organization, a lot of credit for their ability to figure out how to best optimize a pitcher in his movement patterns, in his grips, in the way that the ball is coming off of his fingers, trying to get the best version of himself. And I'm not gonna sit here and say yet definitively that the Mariners have cracked that with Emerson Hancock. It's just a couple of starts at this point, but they've been really good starts. And I think the version of Hancock that we're seeing now is like the version that we thought we could see when he was drafted, but not the version that when he was ascending through the minor leagues, I anticipated. I thought Emerson Hancock was a number five. He is not pitching like a number five right now. He's pitching like a good mid rotation starter. And the fact that there could be more if this becomes a consistent thing is a great sign for an organization that already has five good starting pitchers. And with Ryan Sloan and Kate Anderson on the come up in the minor leagues, it's even more. And it just, it opens up a world of possibilities for Mariners, some of which are, exciting the idea of potentially moving a pitcher to get some more help with the bats or get some more help in the bullpen or wherever it is that you wanna upgrade. But it's also a little scary because George Kirby and Logan Gilbert in particular are getting closer and closer to free agency. And you wonder if one of these guys who's been as seminal as both of them have to this rise of the Mariners is gonna suddenly become a potential trade candidate. You ever think about taking a little relic from each of your podcast interviews? What kind of a relic? I don't know, something in the background you could put back there like a bobble head. I was just thinking about that jockstrap of Cal Rawls. How amazing that would be to have like in the back. I think you're gonna make a joke about my dad being a big jockstrap guy. No, I just, I've. I'm gonna. Brock like still gonna, how my dad likes to wear a jockstrap whenever he plays softball or goes swimming. He puts it under the, you know, he puts it under his bathing suit or whatever. Your dad goes full caught piece in the pool? Well, I mean, under a bathing suit and not anymore, but he used to. Brock's been fascinated by this for years. Was he afraid that he was gonna like crash into the bottom of the. No, no, no, no, no, no, not the cup. No, just the athletic supporter part of it. Just the old, no, not an actual cup. No, no, no, no, just the athletic supporter part of it. Nevermind. Just the strap. All right, Brock, why would you distract us? I have actual baseball questions. We have Jeff Passant and you're asking him about cod pieces. No, you're the one who brought it up. You said it. No. Brock is fascinated with my dad. Thank you. That's only because he wanted it in the background of your video. That's ridiculous. Hey, let me ask you quickly about these young youngsters. As we watch Kevin McGonagall and Connor Griffin, should we be paying attention as a potential roadmap for Colt Emerson? No, I don't think so, because I think that they're all just unique players with unique skill sets and unique abilities to transition to the big leagues. I mean, Connor Griffin, I don't think he has a hit aside from his first at bat. He played good defense there. McGonagall now hitting in the leadoff spot. I would argue that he's the Tigers' best every day player already. That's not going to be the case with Colt Emerson. Colt Emerson is going to come into the Mariners lineup and will probably hit seventh or eighth. And his presence, it's going to be nice. It will be good to have that bat around and to see what he can be long term. I am interested in seeing what kind of an effect it has on Brandon Donovan, though, because some players, you know, Brandon Donovan is the kind of guy who's had the scrap for the kind of career that he's made for himself. And in terms of respect to him for doing that, so maybe he is used to this idea of being super utility guy, but there is some comfort, guys, in knowing where you're going to play every day. And if that gets thrown into question, because Colt Emerson is taking over third base when he comes up, and Brandon Donovan is just going to be that Swiss Army knife who's in the lineup every day. It's just a question of where, what kind of an effect does that have on him? I don't know the answer to that. You see a couple more outings in left field like the last two days. He may be starting in left field every day before it's all said and done. We'll see. I grew up in Cleveland, bro. Thank you, Jeff. That was from last week. You don't need to say it again. We got to go. Our show is over, Jeff. We've got to turn things over to Bump and Stacey, but thank you for making time for us. We appreciate it. And thank you for making time for me, boys. Anytime. We'll talk to you next week. Jeff Pass and every Tuesday here in Brock, we got to go up bump and Stacey up next. DJ Daniel Jeremiah tomorrow. See it's six and the hay barn. See everybody.