Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - A Minor Episode

Episode Date: May 6, 2021

With the minor league season starting this week, D.C. and Locked On Mariners Contributor Jon Miller talk about minor league ball. D.C. attended the Spokane Indians home opener last Tuesday, and be briefly talks about that. Jon talks about some of the players he remembered watching as Tacoma Rainiers, some of whom went on to big league success, and some of whom didn't. Shane Monahan, Greg Pirkl, and Jim Bonnici are three names that are specifically brought up. The two of them also talk about the minor league experience at large. (From a fan's perspective, of course.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today on Locked-on Mariners, following a contract dispute, I'm killed off in a car accident, and Sandy Duncan moves into my house to take care of my family. Welcome to Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Here's your host, D.C. Lundberg. And I'm wondering how many people out there are going, who's Sandy Duncan? Thank you very much, Joey Martin, for introducing today's show. I am indeed D.C. Lundberg, and this is indeed Locked on. Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, brought to you by the locker room. Please remember to download, rate, and follow this program on whichever podcasting app that you

personally care to use. Ask your smart device to play Locked-on Mariners podcast or any program here on the Locked-on Podcast Network, or T-L-O-P-N-O-P-N-O-T-Lopin. We do have John Miller with us today, but before we bring him in, there's a little housekeeping. several roster moves over the last couple days, which have not yet been announced on this show. There's another injured pitcher, some minor league cummings and goings. First of all, Brandon Brennan,

who had been designated for assignment a few days ago, has been claimed off waivers by the Boston Red Sox. That occurred on May 3rd, so we're a couple days behind. Now to May 4th, the Mariners signed right-handed pitcher Ryan Dull to a minor league contract. The Mariners also recalled left-handed pitcher Aaron Fletcher from the Rainiers. He pitched in the no-hitter.

Evan White was activated and sent out to the Tacoma Rainiers were White Mills and Domingo Tapia. That was May 4th. Then on May 5th, Keenan Middleton was placed on the 10-day injured list. He has a biceps strain. He only pitched four in Tuesday's games before having to be removed. And to take his place on the roster, Wyatt Mills was recalled after spending one day being sent out. Minor league, not in the minor league season,

but the Tacoma Rainier's season starts tonight. And here, I don't know what we're going to talk about, but here with us is Locked on Mariners contributor. John Miller. John, how are you doing today? I'm doing quite well, thank you. Excellent. Let's talk some minor leagues.

I know that you pretty much grew up at Cheney Stadium. I went to the home opener of the Spokane Indians on Tuesday night with my best friend, Shannon, we both had a great time, even though the, not the Rainier's, but even though the Indians very nearly got slaughtered. I think it was a 9 to 5 final, and they scored all five of their runs after the sixth inning, after going down 7-0 early. Despite that, minor league games still are fun.

The Rainier's season starts tonight. I don't remember if it's home or away. And in a couple of weeks' time, Shannon and I are going to be headed back to Avista Stadium to see the Aqua Sox play the Spokane Indians, and I'm excited about that. And I'm wondering if you wanted to share, John, some of the memories you had from Cheney Stadium growing up. Well, of the many times that I was there, and it was from as young as I can remember, watching the Tacoma Tigers. Ah, yes.

Some of you might remember was the Oakland Athletics AAA affiliate back in the day. Funny story. A pastor of mine actually made a comment about a year ago, something about the Tacoma Tigers, and I had to kind of tongue-in-cheek mentioned to him that the Tigers had not been in existence since 1994. Nice. You guys may have caught on. He's not a baseball fan. But just throw that out there. and it is such fun to go out to the ballpark. They put on a different experience than the major leagues.

They really do. And like having been to Avista Stadium a number of times, guys, the parking is free. Mm-hmm. So if you all have some time, go out there. You're not paying a bundle like you do at the big league ballparks. No, you're not. Unlike at T-Mobile Park, the world's largest cell phone store, where if you check their website, they encourage you to bring in food because they know food prices are outrageous.

You are not allowed to, for instance, at a Vista Stadium, food prices are actually very reasonable. They are, and it is a minor league policy, not just at a Vista. It's a minor league policy that you're not allowed to bring in outside food. So any minor league ballpark across the country, it's going to be the same thing. Thank you for clarifying. Oh, no problem. No problem. They don't have the big scoreboards.

They don't have the hack tricks or the, what is it, the beat the freeze or the president race or whatever, some of these. No sausage races. Yes, thank you. It is just so much fun to watch that at my time at Shaney Stadium. And once a year I try to go back up there. it's more difficult as you get older, but guys take your kids. Absolutely.

It is a great time for them. They have the mascot or mascots roaming around. They're very friendly with the kids. Get a ball autograph. Just get a baseball card sign. What have you. I think I still have rhubarb,

the reindeer signed baseball card somewhere. I, at one point they would do a rock concert prior to the game, so I'd show up a few hours early, and they would, whatever band or something at Cheney Stadium put on a show. Some of this changed when, I think, around the 2010s when Nick Lachay was part of the ownership of the Rainiers, and they kind of tightened up on some stuff. But yeah, they would do that, and it was just show up, free concert. Or they had amateur wrestling.

They had a ring set up there. And so, okay, you're watching that for what it is. And just all sorts of stuff to try to make it fun. At one point at a Rainier's game, my father and I actually had our seats called, and we got to go sit in the recliners over down the third baseline, and we got free Domino's pizza and soda and stuff. and they don't have that at the big league level,

and I guess the fun of that is that it wasn't like a suite at the big league ballpark where you don't see anyone. People were walking by, or they're joking with you about it, or how you got so lucky, or it's still that personable thing where you're all fans and you're watching the team,

and like when the Indians lost and you were at the game, You're still having fun about it. It's because, at some of them, at the Indians level, these guys are kids. Yeah, and I'm actually glad that you brought that up, because as people were leaving the ballpark, everybody was commenting just how good it was to be back, because remember, guys, there was no minor league season at all. There was no Spokane Indians baseball to follow last year.

The last time they played a game was 2019. And the ushers, the people, you know, kind of guiding people around the stadium. Everybody working there was so friendly, they were happy to be back. And as we were exiting, one of the seat attendants said, isn't it great to be back? And I said, yeah, we lost, but we still had a wonderful time. And just that feeling just was all over the ballpark for the entire game.

And you also mentioned, you know, how the fans can be friendly, even though, you know, we were kind of separated because of, you know, regulations and whatnot. We weren't that separated. We were sitting in the bleachers, and Shannon and I brought in our portable seats to kind of attach to the bleachers so we can lean back, because I've got back problems, and the bleachers are not very comfortable. And they were also the only portion of the ballpark in which you could buy two-person pods, so we didn't have a choice. Otherwise, we would have gotten better seats. But, you know, we got there, we set them up, and they were allowed in the stadium.

We had no trouble bringing them in. and the gentleman behind us asked us where we got him. And Shannon said, I got him from here. She pulled up her phone, showed the gentleman the website. And I think next time he goes to a game, I would be very surprised if he did not have those particular seats. So it's, you know, it is a very friendly experience. And one other thing I noticed about the baseball in particular, John, this year in Spokane, they're up a level now.

They used to be short season, single A. They are now advanced A ball, and the level of baseball is noticeably different. Early on in the season, there were not nearly the fielding mistakes or the base running mistakes that were used to as Spokane Indians baseball early in the season, because these guys generally have a year of professional experience under their belt, and that can go a very long way, can't it? It certainly can. Yeah, it is. and we're up on our first break here, ladies and gentlemen, and no trivia corner today.

So we're just going to go into the break. And first ad today is for the locker room. This episode is brought to you by the locker room. Locker room was the first social audio platform made for sports fans. The app is free to download, and once you're in, you can talk with fans, athletes, and insiders in real time about your favorite team or sports. Locker room is the perfect place to start to join conversations about the league.

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Why am I trying to set a land speed record? All the parts of your car will ever need, rockato.com. Now, back to Lockdown Mariners and your host, D.C. Lundberg. Thank you very much, J.M. We're back here with John Miller, Locked on Mariners contributor, John Miller, talking about minor league baseball. And when we left off, we were noting the differences between low A and high A in the various levels of minor league ball.

I've been to an Aqua Sox game, actually several Aqua Sox games, when they were a low A team. I don't really remember too awfully much had other things on my mind at the time. But again, the difference between low A and high A was, to me, was actually kind of staggering, and you've been at least near a AAA city, you know, pretty much all of your life. And if you could kind of expand on what we had been talking about, I would appreciate it. One of the big differences between going to a AAA game and watching those players and then watching the A ball.

Yeah. Is just the talent quality, the A ball, they're still maturing at the AAA ballpark. I had the luxury of watching major league players who were kind of on their way out. Yeah. Or you happen to catch Kazahiro Sasaki on a rehab assignment. Yeah. Kay Murphy Jr. on a rehab assignment. Or you can say that I saw

insert player here. I saw Alex Rodriguez as a minor leaguer stuff like that. I went into this shop and I bought their team set. And the difference with that is they're so close to the major league level and they will maybe even spend some time at the major league level. D.C. and I could go back and force fill a whole episode. So talking about some of those guys that spent a cup of coffee at the major league level, and that's all they really did.

Yeah, Bucky Jacobson strings to mind. I don't know why. Or you could go with Archimedes Pozo. Right, yes. Oh, I forgot about him. He was traded to the Red Sox for someone. I have to look that up, but go ahead. I'm sorry.

Or... And just to break in here a second, John. Archimedes Pozo was traded to the Red Sox on July 23rd, 1996 for Jeff Manto. Remember Jeff Manto? I do remember Jeff Manto. And I remember the circumstances. Russ Davis had shattered his ankle in Kansas City, and the Mariners had needed a replacement third baseman.

They tried Doug Strange, who was kind of an okay as a filling, but he was definitely more suited to be a utility player, filling all over the infield. So the Mariners acquired Jeff Manto to try to take over third base, hit like 185, acquired Dave Hollins, you know, about a month later, and then Manto was DFA'd, and then traded back to the Red Sox. So Mantow spent two stints with the Red Sox in one season.

That's pretty unusual. Oh, my goodness, yes. Yeah, during that period, the M's had so much relative trouble at third base. We were never happy with whoever we brought in. Yeah. Although Dave Hollins did well, I must say. Yeah, and for a while there, third base was almost bordering left field because you could look up how many left-fielders we had during the Griffey era.

A lot. I know it was over 50. I know it was over 50 men who at one point played left field next to Ken Griffey Jr., including pitchers Jeff Nelson and Randy Johnson. And that's not a joke, ladies. gentlemen. The 50th, I remember this, the 50th player to play left field next to Ken Griffey Jr. It was in 1997. It was another rent-a-player. It was Roberto Kelly. Remember Roberto Kelly? I remember Roberto Kelly, yeah.

He did actually pretty well for the Mariners in that cup of coffee, and then they don't retain him, and they signed Glenn Allen Hill to play left field for 1998. Hit the daylights out of the ball as a Mariner, but my goodness, his fielding numbers were, he was a terrible field. Remember Domingo Santana from a couple years ago? Yes, sir. Yeah. He was actually worse defensively than Glenn Allen Hill, and I thought Glenn Allen Hill was the gold standard for poor corner outfield defense, but it might be Domingo Santana

now. I think it's pretty well safe to say that. Glenn Allen Hill is another one of those more or less infamous for his time in Seattle, battle. Yeah, I would say so, although I did like him when he was, here's the thing. When we did sign him, I say we like I have anything to do with the Mariners. I don't, especially since I was only 13 at the time. But when the Mariner signed him, I was kind of wondering what they were going to do because even then I kind of figured, well, he's a DH type, and the Mariners have Edgar Martinez. So what are they going to do with Hill? They stick him in left field. He doesn't do very well. And he's gone by the All-Star break.

And I forget who the Mariners are. I remember who the Mariners used in left field for the rest of the season. This kind of goes back to talking about the Tacoma Rainiers. And I will bring that up in a bit. But first of all, ladies and gentlemen, if you have a question or a comment that you would like addressed on the show, send it to Lockdown Mariners at gmail.com, and I will address it on the show.

Questions and comments on anything at all are welcome and encouraged. Locked on Manors at Gmail.com, once again, is that address? Coming up, more stuff with John Miller. Yeah, that's it. Now this from Sports Trade. Have you guys heard about sports trade? It's where fantasy sports meets the stock market. Sports Trade takes fantasy sports to the next level. Their platform allows you to buy and sell shares in your favorite players just like real stocks. A fair and exciting way to cash in on your knowledge of sports. And they just added the baseball platform. So check it out today. Making money with sports trade as simple as player values rise and fall based on two factors.

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Actually, we never went away. John Miller is with us. We were talking about left field in 1998, and who took over left field after the All-Star break after Glenn Allen Hill had been traded to the Cubs, and it goes back to the discussion about the Tacoma Rainier's John. I'm going to give you a guess as to who it was, and then if you don't remember, I will tell you, and I think you might remember this player as a Rainier, but I'm not sure. Do you remember who took over left field in 1998? It was a young kid.

I know I am going to remember them once you say the name, but I don't remember right off the top of my head. It was Shane Monaghan. My goodness, yes, I remember. I figured you would, but like you said, Lefiel was such a revolving door that, you know, it could have been him. It could have been any number of people. But yeah, it was Shane Monaghan.

And I remember when he came up that he was, he struck out a lot. So he'd fit it in today's game real well. But he also had a decent batting eye. But for whatever reason, he didn't stick at the major league level. And I'm really not sure why that is. Because when he came up, he was a pretty good. hitter, if I recall. Do you have any memories of Shane Monaghan from the rainiers, John?

I remember as a kid just watching these guys in Tacoma, thinking they were so fun to watch, excuse me, not caring as much about the stats, and then looking at the stats later going after complaining, why didn't they make it in Seattle, whether it was Shane Monaghan or some of you may remember Jim Benici? or Greg Perkle or guys like that. It's like, okay, they spent some time in Seattle. And all I remember is I watched them at the ballpark and they were fun to watch and they were good with the Rainiers.

So why couldn't they make it in Seattle? There's a huge difference between AAA in the major leagues, which I'm sure everybody knows. And I'm pulling up Shane Monaghan's stats now. And in 62 games in 1998, he hit 242. That's not terrible for a 23-year-old rookie. He only had an on-base percentage of 269, however. He walked only eight times in 223 played appearances.

That's almost Uni-Ski-Bentencourt levels of bad, with a slugging average of 346. And in 211 at-bats, he struck out 53 times. A 25% strikeout rate then was enormous, It's kind of like a 35% strikeout rate today. 25% today is almost pedestrian, but in 1998 it was off the charts bad. And I think that's why he didn't stick around. I remember him being a good hitter,

but maybe he started to get a little overexcited to the plate and started to try to do too much and started swinging at bad pitches. That might be what happened. And now, and Greg Perkle, you also mentioned him. I don't think Jim Bonici ever played a major league baseball game. but in Perkle's case he had a career average of 224 and a career on base of 242. He walked only twice in 120 plate appearances. I think that's the difference between AAA John and the major leagues.

Because Perkle had some power. With that 224 average, he slugged 466. That's very good relative slugging to batting average, but he's another guy who probably wasn't as selective. as he needed to be. And in AAA, pitchers don't have the command of their pitches like they do in the major league levels. So players who aren't as selective can kind of get away with, you know, hitting more

mistakes, you know, and things of that nature. And Perkle was also traded to the Red Sox in 1996. Actually, he was waived. He was a waiver claim by the Red Sox August 1, 1996, and got into two games at the big league level with them that year. and later converted to pitching. Wow, I did not know that. I think, well, let's see how,

this is research on the fly, ladies and gentlemen. Yes, in 1996, he pitched two games for the Tacoma Rainiers, and then in 1998 and 1999, he appeared in 46 games in the Cleveland chain as a pitcher at 27 and 28 years old, at both single A and advanced A. So he didn't get too far in 1998 in six games. He had an ERA of 7-11.

But in 1998, in 40 games, split between A and advanced A, he had a 338, no, he had a 304 earned run average, pardon me, 40 games, and he pitched in a 53 in the third innings, and he actually didn't walk very many hitters. 2.2 walks per 9 innings in 1998, but then in 1999, at the advanced A level, he started walking a lot more hiters, and he started giving up a lot more hits, his hit ratio per nine innings more than doubled. Let's see how Jim Bonici did. Yeah, he never made the major leagues, but he spent two years at AAA Tacoma,

1996 where he played 139 games, he slashed 292, 367, 499. 26 home runs and 25 doubles in 497 at Bats for the Rainiers that year. Struck out 100 times, which is on the high side, even for AAA at that time, but took a decent number of walks. He was, what, a first baseman? I believe so, yes. First baseman. He began his career as a catcher, it looks like, and then. then moved to first base.

And in 1996, the Mariners would have had Paul Sorrento. And Bonici, a right-handed hitter, maybe they could have, might have wanted to think about platooning him with Sorrento, who couldn't hit left-handed pitching. But they began the season with Ricky Jordan. He gets injured and is out until September. And instead of bringing up Bonici, they signed Brian R. Hunter as a free agent. And he actually put together a very good season for the Mariners.

Bonici later played for the Orients. Black's Blue Wave in 1997 and 1998, which means he was a teammate of Icheroes. So there's some trivia for you, ladies and gentlemen, although he only played in a dozen games in those two years. And then he played one more season of AAA ball in the Tigers system for the Toledo Mudhands in 1999, appearing in 22 games, but he only hit 224. He was 27 by that point, and when you get to be 27 and you're hitting 224 and AAA, teams are not going to give you another chance.

So he looks like he kind of fizzled out a little bit, so to speak. And I'm wondering if it was because of an injury, because as minor league numbers up through 1996 are very, very good, but in 1997, he only appeared in one game. So I am wondering if it was some sort of injury that did him in, and I don't know if there's any way to find that out. Yeah, I wouldn't have a clue where to look. No, I wouldn't either, but you know what?

it makes too much sense. It makes too much sense because he hit at every level he was, and then all of a sudden, nothing. And usually that is some sort of injury. I want to wrap up on one note, John, we're just about a past time, but I want to wrap up on one note, and it kind of goes back to seeing Major League players before they were Major League players.

And Albert Pujols was designated for a science, today by the Los Angeles Angels and, you know, his Angels career is over, and I don't know what team is going to want to take a flyer on him, considering his declining skill set. But I remember him playing a couple of exhibition games prior to the 2001 season when the Cardinals were playing the Seattle Mariners in Safeco Field, which was technically still part of the spring training schedule. So he was still, he had, it was announced that he was going to be on the major. League roster. Nobody knew how great he was going to be, but he was wearing number 68, you know, for number 68 rather than his customary number five. So, you know, I can technically say that I saw Albert Pooleholz before he was a major league player, and that is something, John, that I will never forget. Is there any other general thoughts that you would like to share before we close

for the day? No, I would like to thank you very much for having me on. And I will say you're welcome. It's always a pleasure to have you on and where might people find you, and I'm glad we're wrapping up because I'm running out of syllables. But where could people find you on the socials if they are so inclined, sir? I can be found on the socials on Twitter at Seattle Pilot 69. Excellent. We'll have you on again throughout the course of the season. Always great having you on it. It's always nice to hear your minor league stories as well. Tomorrow on Locked-on Manors, I'm not entirely certain we are having a show tomorrow. I hope to.

And if we do, I will be joined by Fred Mertz, McGruff the Crime Dog, and a two-terabyte solid-state portable hard drive. Please remember to download, rate and follow Lockdown Mariners. Look for us in any podcasting app that you can happen to think of. Leave a rating and review with your podcasting app of choice so allows. Thank you again for listening, ladies and gentlemen. We'll be back either tomorrow or Monday. I'm really hoping tomorrow.

Either way, join us next time and have a great rest of your Thursday. This is Joey Martin, speaking for Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network.