Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Mitch Haniger: Rotten to the Core

Episode Date: January 28, 2020

Mitch Haniger has unfortunately suffered another setback during his recover from... last season's injury. In other news, the M's have acquired a southpaw who'll compete for a job in the starting rotation. 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.

Good morning Mariners fans. Welcome to Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. You can get this program and any of the other wonderful programs here on the Locked-on Podcast Network. On Google Podcast, Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher Radio, or any other podcasting app you can imagine. We are everywhere, ladies and gentlemen. I am D.C. Lundberg here to guide you through another program of Lockdown Mariners. We have some actual legitimate news to get to. Mitch Haninger has unfortunately, suffered another setback. There will be a new pitcher in the mix

come spring training, and the spring training television schedule has been released. Before I get into any of that, I want to apologize that this show is a day later that I had originally planned. I'll explain why in the second half of the program, but first, we will discuss Mitch Hanager.

If you had to choose an album title to describe Mitch Hanigar's 2019 season, it would have to be Tesla's 1994 album. Well, I probably but shouldn't say the title, but look it up. You'll laugh your head off. It was announced last Thursday that outfielder Mitch Hanigur, or as I like to call him, Manninger, has suffered a setback during his recovery from the rather unfortunate injury that occurred last season.

Manninger will be out six to eight more weeks with what general manager Jerry Depoto described as core surgery, which I'm told has nothing to do with apples. And that was a stretch. It also didn't work very well. Anyways, this core surgery will be to correct a sports hernia. This injury, however, does mean increased playing time in spring training for some of the M's outfield prospects, such as Braden Bischop, Jake Frey, Jared Kalenik, and Julio Rodriguez. In addition, Manninger may miss the start of the regular season, and because of this, DePoto is reportedly kicking around the idea of acquiring an outfieler with some major league experience, which may pave the way for the much anticipated return of Justin Ruezsche.

Jiano. Ha, ha, yeah. Anyways, Manniger played only 63 games last season in what was effectively a throwaway year. The two seasons prior to that, however, he hit 284, 42 home runs, 63 doubles, 140 runs batted in, and 965 at bets. He was an all-star in 2018 as well. He also had 12 outfield assists in 2018, all of them coming as a right fielder, and none the following season, because people, just were not running on him anymore. He still figures in the Mariners' long-term plans during this rebuild.

He turned only 29 last month. He should be in the prime of his career. I sincerely hope he can come back from these injuries. The sports hernia and then the original injury that occurred last season, which I won't get into because it's painful to talk about as a man, they can limit a player's mobility. And one of Hanager's strengths is his defense. He may not have the best glove in the outfield,

but his range plays above average in right field. He's got a good right field arm. We already talked about that, that people weren't running on him. He made some absolutely highlight throws from right field in 2018. His range allows him to be able to play center field in a pinch, although he's not the greatest center fielder out there. And, you know, going back to his 2018 offensive numbers,

285, 26 home runs, 93 runs batted in, that's pretty good for a corner outfielder, certainly not at the elite level, but most teams will take that any day of the week, especially if the defense is there, and it is for Hanager. If he can come back this season and hit 270, 25, you know, maybe 18 to 25 home runs,

maybe somewhere between, I don't know, 25 and 35 doubles, I think that would certainly be a step in the right direction and allow him to build off of that going into 2021. We will have more to talk about on the other side of the impending commercial break, including the Mariners' new left-handed pitcher and the spring training schedule, which was released a few days ago. But before any of that occurs, as something of a baseball trivia buff, every day on this show I would like to present to you some Mariners trivia.

And here is the item for today. There were dozens of people to play left field next to Ken Griffey Jr. during his tenure with the Mariners. Who was the 50th such left fielder? He played alongside Junior in 1997. You know who it is? I'll let you know after the break. And if you have a question about the Mariners or a baseball question in general or a comment on the show,

please email it to Locked-on Mariners at gmail.com and I may use it for our Friday mailbag segment. Probably not doing one this week since I have gotten exactly zero emails. Hopefully next week, probably not. And honestly, I don't even care if the question is about baseball. You can ask question about me. You can even ask questions about, I don't know, pancakes or anything you want to. Just keep it appropriate.

That's all I ask. And I will return right after these important commercial massages. Thank you very much for sticking around. This is the second half of Locked-on Mariners. The answer to the trivia question, who was the 50th person to play left field next to Ken Griffey Jr. Do you remember Roberto Kelly? Yes, the answer is Roberto Kelly,

whom the Mariners acquired for the Pennant Drive in 1997 as a rent-a-player. I'm not sure exactly how many people wound up playing left field next to Ken Griffey Jr. It was a lot. That list includes, ladies and gentlemen, pictures Jeff Nelson and Randy Johnson. Lou Panella pulling a little Whitey Herzog there. And I also want to talk about one of the questions, that I used on the trivia game on the last episode.

One of the questions was who was on first base and scored the winning run on Joe Carter's home run that ended the 1993 World Series. Taylor Blake Ward had answered Alfredo Griffin and Jason Hernandez had answered Ricky Henderson. Ricky Henderson was on second base, and Alfredo Griffin wasn't even on base during that home run. He had pinched run for John Olerud in the bottom of the eighth inning, which was the inning prior.

and Moliter had singled to get aboard and was on first base during that home run. And now back to the Mariners. Last Thursday, the Mariners acquired left-handed pitcher Nick Margievichus, whose name I am positive I'm mispronouncing, which I apologize for. He was claimed off waivers from the Padres. Last season, Margievichus made the Padres opening day roster, appearing in 17 games, 12 starts, He pitched in 57 innings and had an ERA of 679.

He had a whip of 1.614, 19 walks, and 42 strikeouts. He was sent down at the end of June after making 12 appearances. All of them starts and recalled at the end of August making five more relief appearances. Those numbers certainly are not eye-popping. However, when you consider that he made the jump from advanced A-ball to the majors, that's insanely difficult to do. He also pitched at the double A level for the Amarillo Sod Poodles, which is a wonderful name, making 12 appearances.

All of them starts with a 457 ERA and a 1.275 whip. He will turn 24 in June, so he's still relatively young, and those numbers to me sound like he is not a finished product yet. He has been described as a soft tossing lefty with an 88-12. to 90 mile an hour fastball. In this day and age where the league is filled with nothing but power pitchers, I am glad that there are still some finesse pitchers left. To me personally, it's much more interesting to see a pitcher

change speeds and use control, location, and movement to just be futile hitters rather than it is just watching pitchers blow batters away. Margieviches figures to compete for a rotation spot this spring training. Marco Gonzalez, Yuskeke Kikichi, and Free Agent Acquis Condole Graveman will be three of those spots, and Justin Dunn, Justice Sheffield, Nestor Cortez, Phillips Valdez, and Margieviches will compete for the other two spots. To make room for Morgevichis on the 40-man roster,

the Mariners designated Reggie McLean for assignment, who pitched in 14 outings with the Mariners last season, two of them starts, and had a 6.0 ERA. McLean is 27 years old. With pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training, in mere weeks, the Mariners' television schedule for spring training has been released, and Root Sports will be broadcasting a dozen games. The first of which being Sunday's February 23rd against the Texas Rangers at noon. All of these times are Pacific. Saturday, February 29th against the Royals at noon.

Saturday, March 7th against the athletics at noon. Friday, March 13th. Ooh, Friday the 13th. Against the Los Angeles Dodgers at 6.3. 30 p.m. Sunday, March 15th against the Chicago White Sox at 1. Thursday, March 19th against the Milwaukee Brewers at 630. Go yell it. Friday, March 20th, at the Rockies at 630. Sunday, March 22nd against the Padres at 1. Monday, March 23rd against the Rockies at 630 p.m. and Tuesday, March 24th, at the Rockies at noon. That final one is the only weekday game that's going to be during the day. You know, if you listen to this show or the other great programs here on the Locked On network,

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777 or visit locked on podcasts.com slash advertising. We look forward to hearing from you. That'll just about wrap up this edition of Locked-on Mariners, but before we go, I want to tell you why this was a day late. I helped somebody move over the weekend, and sometimes that doesn't go according to plan as everybody listening knows. And not only did this one turn into a cluster rather quickly, but it was a move from Bellevue to Spokane.

And moving across the state never is an evening. easy proposition. And by the time I was able to begin writing and recording a show Sunday evening, I was just completely wiped out and it wasn't happening. So I apologize that this is a day late. I do hope you enjoyed this episode, however, and please remember to download, subscribe, and rate Locked on Mariners on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or any other podcasting app that there is. And also remember to follow the show on Twitter at L.O. underscore Mariners and follow me on Twitter as well at D.C. underscore Lundberg. Thank you for listening, ladies and gentlemen, and have a wonderful day.