Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Mailbag Extravaganza (Part the Second)

Episode Date: December 14, 2020

Locked On Mariners Contributor Jon Miller & D.C. Lundberg answer the remaining fan emails that they didn't get to in the previous episode. The two discuss the strategy of using an "opener," and also discuss what changes -- if any -- they'd make to the Mariners uniforms. 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.

Welcome to Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Here's your host, D.C. Lundberg. You bet. Thank you very much, Joey Martin. I am indeed D.C. Lundberg here to bring you another edition of Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on podcast network brought to you by, guess who? Yep, Bilt Bar. Please remember to download right and subscribe to this program, using whichever podcasting, that you personally care to use. Ask your smart device to play Locked on Mariner's podcast.

or any program here on the Lockdown Podcast Network or T-L-O-P-N-O-P-N-O-P-N-R-T-L-O-N-R-N-R-N-R-B-E-R-G. Follow us on Twitter at L-O-O-U-N-R-R-G, for those of you who are scoring at home. Last time, we opened up the fan mailbag and got to a grand total of two of the five questions that we were sent, and we're going to continue. We're going to get to the other three questions on this episode. Here with me to help answer them, Lockdown Mariner's contributor, John Miller, John, welcome again.

Thank you very much for having me. It's great to be here. It is always great to have you on the show. Reading the emails today, again, my personal secretary who screens the emails and then sends them to us. Clive Braithwaite the fourth, Clive, welcome back. My pleasure. When I read over the emails, I had a feeling this mailbag would not be able to be finished in one episode. Anyways, let's get started. We'll begin with our old friend John in Fife. We haven't heard from him in a while, but he writes. I love the way you are chronicling the World Series.

At some point, do you think it would be worthwhile to cover great players in Mariners' history? Well, John, thank you very much. I'm glad you're enjoying the World Series Chronicles. I didn't think of calling that word, but I think I will from now on. Some of the great players in Mariners' history covering those, I'm, yeah, how do I say this?

I think yes and yes, mostly yes, is how I'm going to answer that question. I do have a new series of episodes planned for not next week probably, but maybe the week after, which are going to go into some individual players more than one per episode, and I'm going to try to make it Mariners heavy, but it's not going to be totally Mariners. And I wouldn't even say great players in Mariners history, just players in Mariners history, who sometimes don't get a lot of love, like maybe the Paul Sorrentos of the world. I mean, everybody talks about Ken Griffey Jr.

Everybody talks about Ich or everybody talks about Felix Hernandez. I'm going to, I'm going to dig deeper and go into some of the players who had very good Mariners careers, but maybe people that are younger than us have not heard of or don't remember. And that's going to be a part of that series. I'm not going to go into too much detail, but definitely going to be talking about some of those players for sure. Earlier during the pandemic when spring trading was shut down, I actually did try to do a series of episodes like this, and I started recording the first one, and I was going to have one player

per episode, and I found out that that's not really enough to fill one episode with. It's not even really enough to fill one block with. So I'm going to get back to that. We're going to do multiple players per episode in the second half, and in the first half of each episode, it's going to be something else. And so, yeah, we are going to be doing that for sure. And John, if you have any ideas, we can talk about them off the air after we're done recording. I don't know if you need to reply to that one or not, but what do you think? I think that's a great idea, and with what you've already said, I think you're definitely on the right track, D.C. All right. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, John and John.

Clive, we are ready for the next message. What is it, sir? Next email is from Tyler in Lingwood. It's too bad Jason Hernandez wasn't available to be on today's show, because this subject is right up his alley. Tyler writes, I really want the Mariners to get new uniforms. Uniforms that are radically different than what we are used to, not just a minor update like what happened recently. The Mariners have had basically the same jersey over the course of my entire life and love of the Mariners. I'm 24 BTW. Baseball jerseys are boring, usually just a solid color with the team name or city across the chest. Would you like to see the DMs take on new uniforms, and if so, what would you want them to look like, or would you rather

see them stick with what they've got? That's a good question. That is a good question, isn't it? As far as the Mariners getting new uniforms, I would honestly like them to see them stick with what they've got. And I would take issue with the fact that he called baseball jerseys boring. Baseball itself is kind of an elegant, understated game, and I think that's reflected in the uniforms. What say you, John? I would keep the uniforms the way they are. If teams choose to,

like the Yankees will do where they will just have Yankees or New York on the front, and then the number on the back and not the last name, that's fine. I admit when I was younger, that did throw me off because I did not know who the specific player was without the last name. But otherwise, I would generally leave them the same. I really hope. Major League Baseball or minor league baseball does not go the way of Major League Soccer or the National Basketball Association or even the WNBA, where if you look at the jersey or the uniform, you think they're playing for AT&T or the U.S. Postal Service and not for the Seattle Storm, for example. Exactly. They look like NASCAR, that I don't want baseball players to wind up looking like NASCAR. That's a very good way to put it.

Thank you. Another part of it is when you try to jazz up a baseball uniform, you're going to get uniforms that look like the Arizona Diamondbacks. And those things are hideous. The Boise Hawks have very elaborate uniforms. And I think those are too much also. I prefer, I'm a traditionalist. I prefer, you know, simple, I guess, simple and understated type uniforms. The one, I wouldn't necessarily say change. But I would add a road alter. uniform, and this is going to be, it would be more simplistic than what they have now, actually. I would take either the S with the compass in the middle or just the compass rose itself and put that itself on the left chest of the road jersey and just have that be the entire front, much like the San Francisco Giants used to do with the SF on their road jerseys in the late 80s

and early 90s with the blue piping and the whole bit. just that one logo on the one side and keep it at that for an alternate road jersey. And I would get rid of the home Sunday alternate, the cream-colored ones with the blue and gold with the current logo and whatnot and no name. I think those things are hideous. I hate them. There are some teams that can get away with omitting a surname from the back of the jersey. The Mariners are not one of them.

It's the old traditional teams that can do it, like the Red Sox, like the Red Sox, like the Yankees. The Mariners do not fall into that category. And I'll also say that when Major League Baseball was bringing back the vest in the 1990s and the Mariners had vested jerseys, I liked the vest on the Marlins and I liked the vest on the Reds. I did not like the vest on the Mariners. What's your opinion on that, John?

I think the vest was trying to just look too hip or cool or whatever and it didn't really have a place. Yeah, I see your point. the Marlins were a brand new team, so it's not as if they've been around for years and years before adding a vested jersey. And the Pirates and Reds both wore vests in the 1960s, as did the Oakland Athletics. So sleeveless jerseys have been around for a while. And when Cincinnati brought back their vest in 1993, the design was very clean, very simple, very traditional. I like their pinstriped hats, too, honestly. I do think there's a place for sleeveless jerseys in

baseball if it's done right. It works for something. Some teams, it doesn't work for others. It does not work for most teams, quite honestly, and it just did not work for the Mariners, I don't think. Getting back to the email, as far as the Mariners' current branding goes, I rather like it. I think it's clean, nice and simple, and I like the teal. I like the teal jerseys a lot.

That sets them apart from other teams, I feel. They're different without being overly weird or out there. I'm glad that they brought them back a few years ago, and to wrap up this segment, I would like to see the Mariners stick with what they've got for the part, although I would ditch the cream-colored blue and gold jerseys they use for home Sunday games. Never been a fan of those. What are your opinions on those? I didn't ask you. I can't say I like them either. All right. All right. I, you know what? And I have to say,

most people I think do like them. But I think we're in the minority on that one, and that is just fine with me. Time for today's Hall Pass, ladies and gentlemen. And today we present a corner infieler who enjoyed a 14-year major league career, all with one team, had a career batting average of 307. 358 on base and 4.71 slugging. 830 was his man's OPS. He led the league in hits twice, led the league in doubles three times, led the league in RBI once. He's also a one-time batting champion. Slugging percentage leader one year also led the league in total bases twice and sacrifice flies once. He is an MVP award winner. He's also got a second place finish, a fifth place finish, and a seventh place finish.

He is a nine-time gold glove award winner, a six-time All-Star, and a three-time Silver Slugger Award winner. 2,153 hits for him, 442 doubles, and 22 home runs, and 1,09 runs batted in. Hall of Fame, yes or no, for this man, I will tell you who it is after this from Bilt Bar. The greatest protein bar is, yes, on the face of the earth. Covered in 100% real chocolate. They are high in protein, while also being low in sugar calories and carbohydrates. They come in 18 delicious flavors.

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locked on for 20% off of your order for great protein bars, drink powder, and energy shots. The hall pass, this was a quarter infielder, as I said. Are those Hall of Fame statistics in your opinion out there in podcast land? Are those Hall of Fame statistics in your opinion, John Miller? Well, as you gave the stats,

I think I know who you're talking about, and I have to say I do not think those numbers are good enough. I would tend to agree with you. You said you might know who it is. What's your guess? My guess is that this guy played first base for the New York Yankees in the 80s and 90s. I think you're on to something. And since Tino Martinez did not play in the 80s, it would have to be Don Maddenly. Yep, this was Don Mattingley, Donnie Baseball.

Tino Martinez was Don Madingley's successor at first base for the Yankees, and Maddenley was a very, very good player. In his time, he hit 352 in 1986 and didn't win the batting title. His batting championship was 1984. He hit 343 that season, and 343, 324, 352, 327, 311, 303. He hit 300 or better, six consecutive seasons, and hit 327 over that time period, and then kind of, I don't want to say fell off the face of the earth, but his numbers did decline at that point. His last season was 1995.

He hit 288 that season, which is not bad. But I think the Yankees were kind of ready to move on from that point. His defense was still very, very good. Keith Hernandez-esque defense, excellent defensive first baseman. But I just don't think that's quite enough to get him into the Hall of Fame. But again, a very, very good career for Don Mavis. Mattingly. If you have a question or comment, please do submit it to Lockdown Mariners at Gmail.com, and we'll read it and reply to it on a future mailbag episode. Questions or comments

on any subject are encouraged during the off-season. They're encouraged during the regular season as well. I'll answer questions about just about anything. Just as long as it's appropriate, please do keep it appropriate. It's a family show. Locked-on mariners at gmail.com is a place to send those questions and comments. We will return very shortly. Now time for the second half of Locked-on Mariners. Once again, your host, D.C. Lundberg. Thank you again, J.M., Lacey Lundberg, and John Miller back with you on Lockedon Manors on this mailbag episode. One more note about Don Maddenly before we head back to the questions.

The most he ever struck out in one season, 1992, in which he struck out 43 times. That's amazing. Only struck out 43 times, although he also didn't watch. a tremendous amount of times either. But man, only striking out 43 times is a career high. Very, very good numbers. As I said, John Miller, back with us. How are you doing?

I am still doing very well. Thank you so much. Excellent. We have got one more email, which Clive will read to us now. Our final email is from Celeste, who lists her hometown as Tri-Cities, Washington, USA, Earth. She asks, if you have said so on the show, I do not remember. Would you mind telling us your thoughts on the use of openers? I'm kind of glad that we have an entire segment to talk about this,

because we might get some mileage out of this. I don't know. Yeah, my thoughts on openers. I don't know if I've mentioned it on this show or not. I know I've mentioned it on the other show that I've done. Yeah, I think, quote-unquote, openers, I think it's bull crap, quite honestly. An opener is essentially a short reliever

who starts a ball game to hide the fact that your starting rotation sucks. That is basically what an opener is. And if you had a decent pitching staff, you wouldn't need to use this. It's just desperation. It's a contrived term, a made-up term, and I'm so glad that it's fallen out of fashion. It had its time in the sun in 2019, and the Mariners tried it in 2019,

and we're not successful at, all. The two long relievers, which they tried this with, Tommy Malone and Wade LeBlanc, who would come in in the second inning after a short reliever would start the ball game. You know, the short relievers that they use to start the ball game, more often, I shouldn't say more often than not, but many, many times wound up giving up one or two runs or more, and then the Mariners would lose by one or one or. two runs. If you would have just started Malone or LeBlanc, those one or two runs that you've seated the opponent probably would not have been on the board or maybe would not have been on the

board and the Mariners would have had a better chance to win. I hate the quote unquote opener. I'm glad that the Mariners are not using that anymore because it is not an effective strategy. It is a strategy built out of desperation when you have a weak starting rotation. John, I'm sure you have a strong opinion on this too. I am in complete agreement with you. It is stupid. It is a waste of time. It shows that you have little to know talent in your pitching staff.

If the person you're using for an opener, whether they give up runs or not was really very good, they would be a starting pitcher and you would be leaving them in, not taking them out after two innings. Or if they're a short reliever, they're going to be the back end of the bullpen closing your ball games because you're not going to burn one of your better pitchers. who's sitting at the back end, who's anchoring the back end of your bullpen,

you're not going to use one of them as your start, quote, unquote, opener. You're going to use a middle reliever who doesn't have the stamina to be a starting pitcher, who essentially is just a mop-up man. That's exactly right. And the idea of, for an opener, you would not use your closer because your closer, if they built up the stamina, would be capable of also being a starting pitcher. They could be an ace. Look at guys like Troy Purr.

Percival, Trevor Hoffman, or Mariana Rivera, some of the greatest closers of all time. I'm sorry I'm laughing. I'll tell you why in a second. If you were to put Moe into a game and start, he could, in theory, go all the way, or he could go those one, two innings, whatever he would do, and be just as dominant. True. And when he first came up,

I think he came up through the ranks as a starting pitcher. And this is probably going to surprise some people to learn that he came up through the ranks as a starting pitcher. He was, I think, I don't know if he ever started a major league game. But when he first came up in 1995, I want to say, I have a lot of older scouting magazines that have scouting reports on various players. And the one, the 1996 edition, which came out during the 1996 preseason, so all the scattering reports are based off the 1995 season. The scouting report on Mariano Rivera said, or this scout said, yeah, he's got great stuff. I would just run him out there every five days as a starter and see what he does.

Yeah, the Yankees didn't exactly do that. They used him as a setup man for John Wetland and then obviously became the most dominant closer in the history of baseball. And he only needed one pitch. I think the reason he didn't stick as a starter at that time is because he didn't have the secondary or tertiary pitches that are necessary to be a starting pitcher. So they put him at the back end of the bullpen because he had good. stuff and the rest is history.

So when a closer winds up being a closer, sometimes it's a stamina issue. Sometimes it's because they don't have that third or fourth pitch that a starting pitcher needs in his repertoire. But going back to the opener's question, I think I've said pretty much all I can say about that. John, do you have anything to add? I think we have pretty well covered that without continuing to beat a dead horse. Or getting bleeped. because this

honestly this the openers quote unquote openers drives me up the wall and I'm not against any progress so to speak in baseball but I don't think that's progress I just think that's dumb it's not a good strategy move

it's not a good strategy move and I think we're going to leave it at that Celeste thank you very much for that question and that is the entirety of the mailbag thank you very much Clive for joining us again today you're very welcome All right, thanks again, Clive.

And John, I think that's actually going to do it for today. I thought we might have some time for just some, you know, BSing around afterwards. But I think we got to call time. So thank you very much for joining us again today. And I'm very surprised that we got two episodes out of five emails. But John, thanks again. Where can people find you on Twitter? I can be found on the Twitter sphere at Seattle Pilot 69.

Yes, indeed. Please do follow him, ladies and gentlemen. We will be back probably Monday. with guess what? Yep, more Mariners news. The Rule 5 draft was on Thursday, and we're going to tell you about who the Mariners picked up in said Rule 5 draft. And here with me to do that will be Carmine Ragusa, Bat Lee, and a Rubin sandwich. Please remember to download right and subscribe with this program using whichever podcasting app that you can think of. Follow us on Twitter at L.O. underscore Mariners. Follow John on Twitter at Seattle Pilots 69. Follow me on Twitter at DC underscore. Lundberg. Thanks again for listening to this episode, ladies and gentlemen, and our previous one,

parts one and two of the mailbag. And I hope you'll join us for the next one on Monday, as I am running out of coherent syllables. This is Joey Martin speaking for Locked On Mariners, part of the Locked On podcast network.