Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Mailbag Oddesy, Part IV: Free Agents, Bowling, and Curling

Episode Date: December 30, 2020

Jon Miller joins D.C. for the fourth show in a row to answer listener questions. They two discuss which free agents the Mariners might want to sign to improve for the long term, talk about their various travels, and also explain why they enjoy bowling & curling so much. D.C. also reveals why he enjoys women's bowling & curling more than men's bowling & curling. (The keyword is "hard.") 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.

This is Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Here's your host, D.C. Lundberg. A four-part mailbag episode. I never went a guest. Thank you very much, Joey Martin. I am indeed D.C. Lundberg here for the fourth show in a row, a rowback episode here on Locked-on Mariner's, part of the Locked-on podcast network or T-L-O-P-N or, of course, T-Lop-N. Please remember the download rate and subscribe to this program using whichever podcasting app that you personally care to use.

Ask your smart device to play locked on Mariners podcast or any program here on Tlopin. Follow us on Twitter at L-O-U-U-U-Skourner. Follow me on Twitter at D.C. underscore Lundberg, L-U-N-E-R-G, if you're scoring at home. Back with us for the fourth show in a row again, John Miller. How are you doing? I am doing very well. Thank you so much for having me, D.C. You're very welcome.

Did you ever think that this was going to be a four-part mailbag extravaganza? I did not. I didn't have the slightest clue. Neither did I. Also back with us for the fourth show in a row, my personal secretary who screens the emails and then sends them to me as a preview and then reads them on the air. Clive, Braithwaite the fourth.

Clive, how are you holding up? I'm doing fine. I was gobsmacked when I read. realize this was going to go into four parts. Next time, D.C., try not to go off on subjects that the listeners did not ask you to discuss. I'll try. Let's begin this unprecedented part four with a message from one of our loyal listeners, John in Fife. He says, Love the Mailback Double episode.

It is a great idea to have either Mr. Miller or Mr. Hernandez answering questions with you. In the off-season, what free agents would you be looking to sign to help the Mariners eventually become the winning team for more than one season? You know, John, I think the Mariners are addressing the one glaring need that they have, the bullpen. That is the one area that obviously needs the most work. For the long term, however, Keenan Middleton is only 27. He could be around for a while.

If he has a good season, maybe the mayors want to try to resign him to a longer-term contract. Chris Flexen, you know, we'll see what happens to him. And then the Mariners also drafted a pitch. in the Rule 5 draft, he might be around for a while. In terms of what free agents I would look for this season, I don't know if I would look for any John beyond some relief pitching, and I have another part of this answer that I'm going to get to,

but I'd like to know your opinion first. I am in agreement with you. There aren't too many that I would go after, that would match what the Mariners appear to be doing and the ball that they're looking to play. Yes. next off season, if things go well, and if players continue to develop like I think they might be, next season would be the season that I look for that piece to resistance free agent

that they might sign to a one or a two-year contract that might put them over the top. Also remember that Kyle Seeger is going to be a free agent after next season. And I don't see the Mariners resigning him. Even if he has a monster season, he may get traded at the trading deadline to a contender if the mariners are out of it, or he might not. I don't know. That's merely speculation on my end. But I would be surprised if Kyle Seeger is a mariner in 2021. Here's why I'm bringing third base into this. Assuming Kyle Seeger is not resigned after next season, the Mariners might have an option already on the 40-man roster who can supplant him. Shed Long Jr. and Dylan Moore

are going to be in competition for the starting second-paced job in spring training. Long had a very poor 2020, as a lot of players did, while Moore had a very good 2020 when he was healthy. If they both have good years next year, they might both be able to start in 2021. Moore has played a fair amount of third base in the minors, not too much of it, and his fielding numbers aren't that great, but he's also not Russ Davis out there. And the more he plays third base, or any position for that matter, the better he'll be. And he's rangy all over the infield. Those range numbers are very good.

He's played much more shortstop than third, and he's got pretty decent numbers. It's short. If this doesn't work out, if Long continues a struggle or more shows that he's more suited to be a utility player than a starter, then you can go get a second baseman or a third basement in free agency potentially, but off the top of my head, I don't know who would be available. Left field is another position the mayores might want to look at next offseason. Kyle Lewis is a center field.

There's no question about this unless he completely falls up the face of the earth, and I don't know if that's going to happen. And Mitch Hanigar is going to be around, hopefully for a while also. But that leaves a hole in left field. I don't think Jake Fraley is developing John like the Mariners. We're hoping that he would. And I don't know if Jared Kelnick is going to be ready in 2022 to fill the void in left field. Julio Rodriguez's same situation, although I think he might be a little bit farther away than Kelnick is.

And again, John, off the top of my head, I can't name anybody at any position who's going to be a free agent after next office. season. Off the top of your head, can you remember? If you can't, it's fine. I couldn't do it. No, I can't. Fair enough. Outfielders are generally easier to find in second baseman or third baseman, though. Also next offseason, depending on what the pitching staff does next year, maybe there's a starting pitcher the Mariners could sign to solidify the rotation. And again, I can't think of any specific names off the top of my head. But also remember that the Mariners do not have an unlimited bankroll like a few teams seem to do. The Yankees seem to do. The Yankees

seem to have a bottomless wallet, even though they can tend to operate on the cheap sometimes. The Red Sox seem to have unlimited funds. The Dodgers, the Phillies. The Mariners are not one of those teams. So even if there's an elite upper echelon pitcher, the Mariners are not going to be able to sign him. But, you know, maybe there's a number two or a number three type starter out there. That might be more doable.

And you can never have enough pitching. Plus, I personally don't see UC Kikuchi panning out. he's had some good starts, but too many bad ones, and he and Justin Dunn more than any other starter seemed to be more prone to giving up that big inning which hurt the meritor so often than the rest of the staff. But to wrap up next offseason is when I'd be looking to add some key free agents to help put the meritors over the top

or to try to help put the meritors over the top, but not necessarily this off season. What say you? I am in complete agreement with you on that. Excellent. And we actually answered a question in a relatively decent amount of time so we can get to the next one. Clive lay the next question on us. East Hampton, Connecticut's very own Aden Soans continues to extend his record of consecutive mailbags in which he's submitted a question. This is his ninth in a row.

He writes, before I ask a question, you should know that I have two favorite teams, the Mariners and the Yankees. Yes, I don't know how it is possible either. And what is even more weird is that the rest of my family are Red Sox fans. Also, it is funny how your home minor league team, Spokane Indians, is affiliated with my home minor league team, Hartford Yard Goats. Anyways, here is my question. How many countries and states have you traveled to? Well, I'd have to name the states, and then that'll be the total.

And then we'll get to you, John. I've been to exactly one country, the good old US of A, where I have been born and raised, and I've never been out of the country. Even though I lived a long time in Seattle, never made the trip to Canada, I never got a passport, never got an enhanced driver's license,

so I've been to only the one country. I am in Idaho, under normal circumstances, every few days. If I need to do any shopping or if I need to fill up my gas tank, I do it in Idaho, just because sales tax is so much less

than it is here in Spokane County. And the gas station I go to in Cordo Lane is 40 cents a gallon cheaper than the, gas station that just just up the street from my house in Spokane. So Washington, born and raised, always lived here. Been to Idaho more times than I can count. Again, about there all the time. Been driven into Montana a couple of times. I've been to Oregon. That was the first other state that I was in 94, I want to say, 93 or 94. And I've been to California, northern California.

Those are the states I've driven to. Then we get into, I've been to O'Hare Airport. So that takes care of Illinois. I've been to the airport as a layover at O'Hare and also a layover in Minneapolis airport, so that takes care of Minnesota. John, the rest of the states that I've been to, I have been to with you around and your wife also. When we flew into upstate New York for the Hall of Fame ceremony in 2016, we stayed in Schenectady, obviously went to Cooperstown a couple of times. And we also did a road trip, like a 14-hour road trip. And in this order, ladies and gentlemen, me and John and his wife drove through Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut. So yes, Aden, I have been into Connecticut. Rhode Island for a very brief period of time, we kind of

nick the corner of Rhode Island, then turned back into Connecticut, went back north up through Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, and then drove back to New York. And we did a similar road trip. My roommate, Shannon and I, when we went back to the Hall of Fame in 2019 to see Edgar Martinez inducted, we actually didn't make it to the induction ceremony, but we were there that weekend, and we drove through Vermont, New Hampshire, a little bit of Massachusetts and Maine, and some of the best seafood I've ever had, John, was in Kinnebunk, Maine, at a little sports bar restaurant called the Pilot House. I had a lobster roll. Shannon had had delicious scallops, and this place was not very much.

very expensive either, which surprised us, pleasantly surprised, obviously. I would recommend it less. Anyway, John, I know you've been back east, not only to the Baseball Hall of Fame, but to the Basketball Hall of Fame in Massachusetts. And now it's time for you to tell us about your travels. I have been to, if the county is correct,

half of the states, I'm missing some just odd ones, and then from the Rocky Mountains over, I've been to the east and west and the south, and a lot of the flyover states I have not been to. I think I stopped at the airport in St. Louis or something like that. So that would cover Missouri. I went to Canada pre-9-11.

Okay. And next year, my wife and I are planning to visit a friend who has recently moved to Alaska. Oh, wow. Oh, I've always wanted to go to Alaska. It seems like it's real pretty there. That's what I've seen. Our friend, Christine, has told us that it is beautiful, and I told her the one requirement, I will come visit you,

but you have to take us to the Nali National Park, because that would be on my bucket list. Nice. Whereabouts in Canada have you been? I'm curious. We just went up into BC, Vancouver, and Victoria for a few days. Just like everybody else in the Puget Sound region except me. Yes.

Didn't make it a yellow knife, eh? No, I would love to go visit yellow knife there. I hear it's beautiful. Inside joke, gang. Yeah, so that's basically the extent of my travels. I would like to be able to do more traveling, but that takes money, and that's something I do not have a whole lot of.

Time for the trivia corner, ladies and gentlemen, the final trivia corner of the year. And today it is a trivia question. Ricky Henderson recently celebrated a birthday. He has turned 62 years old. On Christmas, December 25th, he is a Christmas baby. He led the American League in Stolen Bases every single season in the 1980s, except for 1987 when he only played 95 games.

Who was the American League Stolen Base King that year? I'll let you know who it was after this from Bet Online. Are you ready for some football? Uh-huh. College football heads into bowl season. and there are indeed some big matchups this weekend. The NFL regular season is finishing up as well, and the playoff picture is becoming clearer.

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that the American League was not led by Ricky Henderson in that department. Hmm, John, do you know who this is? I do know who this is. Well, do please tell us then, sir. I believe it is a regular commentator on what my father and I affectionately

call the Life Network, the MLB Network, because that gives you your life for the day. Harold Reynolds. It is indeed, the Seattle Mariner's very own Harold Reynolds, I believe he was in a race with Willie Wilson, and he stole one or two bases the last game of the season to put him over the top, and he had a league leading 60 stolen bases.

And after the season ended, Harold Reynolds got a phone call from Ricky Anderson, and according to Reynolds, the message he got was 60 stolen bases, man, Ricky is going to have 60 at the break, click, and then he hung up the phone. And I love that story. That's 100% classic Ricky Henderson, speaking in third person the whole bit. And I looked it up to see if he did in fact have 60 stolen bases by the 1988 All-Star break. You had a 50-50 shot, John. Do you think he did or do you think he did not?

I don't think he did it. He had 42 stolen bases at the All-Star break in 1988. But he did wind up with 93 stolen bases that year. Yeah, that's a few. Yes. That's quite a number of stolen bases. Ladies and gentlemen, if you have a question or a comment, please do submit it to Lockdown Mariners at Gmail.com. I will reply to it on the air in an upcoming mailbag episode.

Questions and comments on any subject are welcome and encouraged. Locked on Mariners at gmail.com is that address once again. Keep them appropriate, please. This is a family show. My mother listens to this show, and I'm not going to answer any questions that's going to be embarrassing for her to listen to. Lockedon Mariners at gmail.com again is that address. Locked on Mariners will return after this. a word from Built Bar.

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Again, builtbar.com promo code locked on for 20% off. of your order. Built bar, don't leave home without it. Welcome to the second half of Locked-on Mariners. Here once again is your host, D.C. Lundberg. All righty, thank you very much. J.M., I am indeed D.C. Lundberg back here on Locked-on Mariners. Before we get back to the emails,

you know, betting on your favorite league team or sports does not have to be a guessing game. If you listen to the new Locked-on Bets podcast, hosted by Your Boy Q and handicapping expert Lee Sterling. Get daily picks and quick-hitting advice to make the smartest possible wagers. Subscribe to Locked-on Betts podcast. Brought to you by Betonline.ag, wherever you get your podcasts. Back to the email episode, part four of this email, extraabaganza,

with both John Miller and Clive Braithwaite the fourth wrapping up here. This is not going to go to a fifth part because we have one final email. Clive hit it. We have finally gotten to our last email, and you still have the entire B-block to reply. So there is no way this mailback paloosa, as you called it, is going to go into a fifth show. Thank goodness. Craig in Vancouver, British Columbia has the distinction of asking the final question not only of this four-part episode, but also the final question of the year.

And while it has nothing whatever to do with baseball, his question is about your other favorite sports. He asks this. Would you be so kind as to explain your fascination with the new answer? of bowling and curling that make them so appealing. Oh, man. Oh, boy. I don't know if I can't explain it, to be honest. I'll try. Bowling and curling. I'll talk about, well, I love the precision that both sports take. I'll talk about bowling first. A lot of people just think bowling is just going out there and throwing the ball down the lane as hard as it can and trying to blow up the pins. It's really not like that.

It's much more surgical, if you will. And, John, I know that you like both of these sports also. So I'll give you a chance of speaking a little bit, but I love the precision, again, that bowling takes, and I prefer watching the more accurate bowlers rather than the power bowlers. And again, power bowling does not mean just throwing the ball as hard as he can. It's really putting a lot of spin on the ball, a lot of revolutions, rev rate, is the, is the buzz phrase, if you will, in the PBA right now, how many revolutions a player has, and how much he can hook the ball. That doesn't interest me too much. I prefer the guys who do. don't have a lot of rev rate, the low to medium guys who are very, very accurate.

And I think it might be because that the more accurate player will keep himself in the game more. The power players, they're generally not as accurate. They don't have to be. But when they just miss the pocket, they're going to leave a lot of splits and a lot of impossible splits. Although when they make a quote-unquote impossible split, it's exciting. Where the accurate player, he will not strike as often. often, but the spares he will leave will be much more makeable.

And I prefer to see good spare shooting rather than just a strike fest. That interests me more. And the same goes for baseball pitchers. I prefer to see pitchers who rely on accuracy and rely on some movement and who don't just blow batters away left and right. That doesn't interest me too much, nor does this power bowling. It's much more interesting to me to see an athlete have to rely on accuracy rather than just power.

John, I'll actually let you say a little bit about that before we move on to curling if you'd like to. I think that there's kind of a common thread here with baseball and then with bowling, and we'll see it also in curling. The skill and precision that you have to have, and then I notice, especially with baseball and curling, it's the strategy too.

Yes. And what you're going to do now versus what you're planning to do later and what your next step will be. as to how you're going to try to win this game. Even with baseball, it's rarely just poof one home run and the game is over. Odds are our teams are going to score more than that one run. And so that's where I make my point. And the same with bowling or curling.

Bowling is not just one shot. And no, you're not going to get a perfect game all the time. But are you able to make that spare? Are you able to make those splits? and that to me is where the fun comes in, seeing the competition between the two bowlers and whether he can make this shot. Is that skill and precision there?

And as the announcers talk about it, which ball is he going to use? What rev rate is he going to try to get? You'll see some that they try to go a little bit faster, some that, okay, they're going to taper off on that a little bit, and if you wanted to talk about it, I'd let you get into the different wax patterns. Yeah, I don't know if I'm going to, but you bring up a good point because the oil patterns definitely fit into that.

You mentioned something that I'm actually going to bring up. There's a player who threw a perfect game on television this year, Francois Lvois, who is a low-to-medium rev-rate player, but he's also pretty versatile. A couple years ago, he tried to become a power player, and it just did not work for him. He went back to what worked, and he's now successful again. Ditto Bill O'Neill, who's a future Hall of Famer, and one of my personal favorites. He tried to become a power player, but he just wasn't good at it. He went back to what he used to do, control the pocket, more focused on accuracy. But he's also one of the more versatile players on the PBA tour, but he's not a high-rev-rate guy.

He's not a power player, and he's never going to be. So that's why I like bowling. And the reason I like curling is actually rather similar, and it's a team game. you mentioned the strategy. And the answer really is rather similar. I love the precision and accuracy that's necessary in curling, but there's also a lot of strategy involved in this sport. And that, I don't know if I can put that into words,

other than the fact that I just love the fact that there is a lot of strategy. You have to try to outthink your opponent rather than in bowling where, yeah, you are competing against another bowler, but your strategy is you versus the lane rather than you versus your opposition. To me, it's just really fascinating to watch. Another thing these sports have in common that I really like is that, well, in terms of women in these sports, the playing field or equipment, it doesn't change. It's exactly the same, and women can compete against men in these sports with pretty much no disadvantage.

On any given day, one of the top female bowlers can beat one of the top male bowlers. And there have been women to make televised finals in the PBA tournaments. Liz Johnson's done it twice, and she has a win. And that was in the World Series of Bowling, a very big. very prestigious tournament. Kelly Kulik won the PBA tournament of champions about 10 years ago, and that might be the most prestigious tournament out there. In the PBA League this year, there were two all-female teams, and one of them advanced past round one. And to be honest, I prefer women's bowling to men's bowling because the women tend to be that more accurate

control-the-pocket-type player that I spoke of earlier, because they generally don't have the physical strength necessary to put a lot of revs on the ball for a power game. And every PBA member will tell you that women are better spare shooters than men because they have to be. Players, again, who rely on controlling the pocket, leave more spares, but not as many splits as power players. But there are women out there who are power players. Don't get me wrong. Dasha Kovilov is a power player.

And she threw a perfect game on TV last year, 2019. was the perfect game. And she's only the fourth woman to throw a perfect game on television. It does not happen very often. Occasionally, there is mixed doubles in bowling, and there's mixed doubles in curling as well, which was an Olympic event for the first time two years ago in Pyong Chang. In terms of men's curling and women's curling,

it's the exact same game. Exact same game. But I do prefer women's curling over men's, if only for the fact that female curlers do tend to be rather attractive. I'm single. I can say that. And I've mentioned this to Jason Hernandez, who then started to watch curling,

and he said, yeah, DC, you're absolutely right. Curlers are pretty cute. Also, there's just something about a bunch of young women yelling, hard! Hard! Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Yes, indeed. With that, we're going to get the hell out of here for the day. Clive, thanks for joining us again.

You're welcome. I'm relieved it's finally over. So am I. I'm going home. Yep, go on home, Clive, and enjoy some tea and crumpets or whatever you guys do. Thanks again for joining us these last four shows. I know you're a little ticked off about that. John, thank you again also for joining us these last four shows.

Where can people find you on Twitter? I can be found on Twitter at Seattle Pilot 69. Excellent. Thank you again, John, for joining us these past four shows. This email Odyssey is over. Please remember to download, rate and subscribe to this program. Look for us on any podcasting app that you can think of. Follow us on Twitter at L.O. underscore Mariners.

Follow my good friend John at Seattle Pilots 69. Follow me at D.C. underscore Lundberg. We've got two more shows coming up this calendar year 2020, and we are having a January 1st show as well with John Miller, as we say good riddance to this horrible year. Join us for the next lockdown, Mariners. Thanks again for listening, gang. Have a great day.

This is Joey Martin saying join us back here next time for another edition of Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network.