Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Maniger's Rehab, a Slowride

Episode Date: February 21, 2020

D.C. Lundberg discusses an article about Mitch Haniger's rehab efforts from the various surgeries he's underwent. 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.

Thank you for tuning in to Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Here's your host, D.C. Lundberg. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. This is Locked-on Mariners, as Joey Martin just told you, and I am D.C. Lundberg, your reasonably humble host. Remember that you can download, rate, and subscribe to Locked-on Mariner's on Google Podcast, Apple Podcast, Stitcher, Spotify, or whichever podcasting app that you like to use. You can also ask your smart device to play Locked-on Mariner's podcast or Locked-on anything podcast, and it will do it. This show is on Twitter at L-O-O-U-U-Skourner's.

I am on Twitter also at D.C. underscore Lundberg, L-U-N-D-B-R-G, if you are scoring at home. Well, there was an article released today on MLB.com regarding Mitch Hanager and his recovery from the various surgeries that he has had. and we're going to talk about that article during the first half of today's program. The first part of the first sentence of this article caught my attention. Greg Johns writes, quote, Mitch Hanager insists he'll be back at some point this season, end quote, which brings up the question just how long is he going to be out. Originally there was no timetable set for his return, and that hasn't changed. But John's article stating that Manninger, quote, insists he'll be back at some point this

season, end quote, gives me pause. The article goes on to talk not only about the painful injury that occurred last season, but ongoing back problems for Manninger, including an undiagnosed torn abductor muscle that led to back problems last August. At the end of January, he underwent what general manager Jerry Depoto described as core surgery, which again has nothing to do with apples, but was essentially sports hernia surgery. Shortly after beginning rehabbing from that surgery, his back problems persisted, leading to a second surgery last week to correct a, quote, significantly herniated disc, end quote. Quoth, Manager, I'm really happy now that both problems are fixed.

Surgery intervention was needed to fix both of these issues, and now I'm really excited that I can move forward and have a clear plan to get back on the field, end quote. He went on to say, quote again, I don't know what the timetables are at as of now, end quote, that's poor English. Quote again, the main goal for me is to take it one day at a time and to try to do my stuff in the training room, make sure my diet is good, make sure my sleep is good, just everything I can do to control this healing process.

Hopefully everything goes as quickly and smoothly as possible, and I can ultimately get back on the field and help this team, end quote. Speaking as someone who has minor back problems as a result of an injury that occurred when I was 21, I know firsthand that back problems are nothing to fool around with. It's got to be eating him up to have to take recoveries so slowly. He is one of the M's hardest and most diligent workers, but he's also smart enough to know that rushing this rehab

will only result in more complications or maybe even uncorrectable long-term problems. Quoth Manager once again. The way I choose to look at it is, what am I going to be capable of when I'm actually healthy? That's how I choose to look at it. I'm excited to see what level I can be at now that I'm fixed and starting this healing process. I think I'm going to be better than ever when I get back on the field, end quote. I hope so too.

No one knows when the heck manager will be able to return to the lineup, so I won't speculate on that. But this does open up the door to see what Jake Fraley, or Ace Fraley, and Braden Bishop can do in training camp. It also makes the Carlos Gonzalez signing that much more important, which I stated earlier in the week on this program, but I didn't realize that there was a question about Manninger returning this season at all. Even though Cargo will be counted on more as a clubhouse presence and a team leader and mentor, his role as an outfielder just got bigger and more important. Throwing out last season's numbers, he hit 276 in 2018 his last season with the Rockies. The issue with Cargo making the team is that he is not on the Mariners 40-man roster,

and a spot would have to be cleared for him to make the team, although Manninger does seem like a candidate for the 60-day injure list once the season starts. When asked if he'll be back in 2020, Manninger replied, quote, I intend to, I hope so, and I expect to be, end quote. And with that gang, it's time for the League Commish Fantasy Minute. And, you know, my fantasy involves a combination of women's beach volleyball, a pillow fight and jello wrestling.

Yeah, but I can talk about that later. Today's featured player is Marco Gonzalez. The M's number one starter had a very serviceable year in 2019, starting 34 games and pitching over 200 innings for the first time in his still relatively young career. He was awarded with a contract extension, which will kick in after 2020 is complete. He ended 2019 with a 399 ERA, a 1.310 whip, 147 strikeouts and 56 walks. Since he did pitch many more innings than in previous seasons,

I assumed that he sort of wore down towards the end of the year, but that actually was not the case. His worst months were May in June, where he put up a combined 555-ERA and a 1.541 whip. His best months were actually September and October. In a combined five starts, he opposed to a 243 ERA and a 1.140 whip. That strong finish indicates to me that the Maritors can pitch him a few more innings this year than they did last.

Though he did toss 203 innings over 34 starts, that only averages to just under six innings per game. I'm old school. I want my starters going more than six innings a game, particularly with the bullpen the Mariners are going to have this season, but that's a topic for another time. His 2018 and 2019 ERAs were virtually identical, but last season he gave up more walks, more home runs, and didn't strike out as many. He's now got a 200-plus inning season under his belt. He was very good in his final starts of last year, so I expect to see some improvement in his ERA, his whip, and his walk rate. And honestly, I couldn't care less about strikeouts. And this fantasy minute was sponsored by League Commish.

What are you doing for the game? It's a universal question. Whether the casual follower, the tweets everything, the beginner, the diehard, the stat nerd, the smack talker, the appetizer guy, the couldn't care less, or that makes everything into a competition person, we all have our place in the sports world. The same personalities apply to fantasy sports

and league commission exists to ensure your fantasy experience is the best one for you. We match managers to leagues as we lay the foundation for your new league. It's as easy as sign up with your preferences, get matched, and approve of that match before any commitment on your end. Sign up with League Commish by February 29th

and receive 15% off by entering the code locked on in the referred by section of the sign-up form. And get this, the first 25 people to sign up using our code receive their first match for free. What are you doing for the game? Find your next Fantasy Sports League at league commish.com. Time for a break, gang, and with that comes the Mariners trivia question. This past season, Malix Smith became the first mariner to regularly wear uniform number zero. Which outfielder DH closed out his career with the Mariners in 1989 and 1990 wearing double zero. He was an all-star in 1989 with the M's.

I will let you know just exactly who that is when we come back from the impending commercial break, but I also must remind you that if you have a question for me or a comment on the show, to please email it to Locked-on Mariners at gmail.com, and I will consider using it for the Friday mailbag segment. Questions about anything? Pancakes, curling, I don't care what the question is about. Just as long as it doesn't move this program from a clean rating to an explicit rating, I will not read those questions. Locked-on Mariners will continue as soon as I refill my water bottle.

Now time for the second half of Locked-on Mariners. Once again, your host, D.C. Lundberg. Yes, indeed. Thank you for sticking around for what may be a relatively abbreviated second half of Locked-on Mariners today. We'll start with the answer to the trivia question, however. Malix Smith became the first mariner to regularly wear number zero last season, which outfielder D.H. closed out his career with the Mariners in 89 and 90 wearing double zero. The answer is the hackman, Jeffrey Leonard. He is, in fact, the only mariner ever to wear double zero.

Well, gang, it was announced who's going to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Mariners' first game of the regular season on March 26. and that is none other than Ichiro Suzuki. Yes, and if you do not follow the Mariners' Twitter or Facebook pages, they put up a 17 second or so video of Ichiro just hum and fastballs into the zone. And from the looks of it, he could probably pitch better right now than three quarters of the Mariners' bullpen, but that's a story for another time. So there is something to look forward to

an opening day rather than a mediocre rebuilding team. I'm going to talk about what we've got planned for this show over the next few weeks leading up to the beginning of the regular season, as I mentioned on March 26th. The first thing I'm going to talk about is another series of shows we're going to do, not next week but the week after. And this was inspired by an email question I got for the previous email bag, which I didn't read on the show. Jacqueline asks me,

who are your top five favorite Mariners players of all time? What were their positions and what years did they play for? for the team. Well, I'm going to take that one step further. Monday through Friday, I'm going to choose two positions, and I'm going to discuss my top three Mariners at each position. And again, this isn't next week, but the week of March 2nd, Monday I'll talk about the top three first baseman and third baseman in Mariners history, so the corner infielders. Tuesday will be the top three second baseman and shortstop, so the middle infield. Wednesday will be the top three left fielders, center fielders, and right

fielders, and second half of the show will be DHS. Thursday will be the pitching staff, both starting pitchers and relief pitchers. Friday during the first half of the show, the top three Mariners catchers, and second half of the show will be the weekly mailbag segment. And remember, that's the week of

March 2nd, week after next, right here on Locked on Mariners. Also planning on doing another episode of Diamond Quiz here pretty soon, probably sometime late next week, I'm hoping. And probably a couple more. before the regular season starts. I've been wanting to do them maybe every two and a half or so weeks,

and then maybe every three weeks to a month once the regular season starts on off days and things like that. The other show that I'm working on, and I'm not going to go into too much detail on this one because it's still very much a work in progress, and it might not happen. But closer to opening day, I am hoping to do a special episode, and this one will be all about our wonderful commissioner of baseball, Mr. Rob, Manfred. So stay tuned for that. Tomorrow on this program, in addition to the regular mailbag segment, which we'll do in the second half of the program, we are doing an expose on how to

pronounce Japanese names. I can't think of an American sportscaster in any sport that gets it right. They all screw them up. So we are going to set the record straight tomorrow on Locked-on Mariners. I also just want to quickly make note of one major national story that's been absent from this program. I promise myself I wasn't going to go anywhere near it on the air. That, of course, is the Astros cheating scandal. And aside from the possible episode we're doing later on Rob Medford, that is the last you will hear about it on this program. Gang, I wish it wasn't such a light news week, but, you know, honestly,

I wish that the curling nationals were this week, so I could have taken the slow news week off, rather than take off the week where stuff actually happened. That's just kind of the way it worked out. Oh, well, in any case, please download, rate, and subscribe to Locked-on Mariners on Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or whichever podcasting app that you care to use.

Also, remember to ask your smart device to play Locked-on Mariner's podcast or Locked-on-N-Mariner's podcast, all the shows right here on the Locked-on podcast network or T-L-O-P-N or T-Lopin. You can follow the show on Twitter at L.O. underscore Mariners, and follow me on Twitter as well at D.C. underscore Lundberg. Remember, join us tomorrow for the expose on how to pronounce Japanese names and the weekly mailbag segment. Until then, have a great evening.

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