Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - The Host Has No Imagination

Episode Date: May 26, 2021

No, D.C. couldn't come up with an adequate title for today's show. But on this particular episode, we feature the remainder of the conversation he had with Jason Burke of Locked On A's about the Mariners and Athletic. This portion of the conversation focuses on the Mariners. Jason likes the Mariners, and was excited to learn that they were slumping horribly prior to the first game of the series. (Which the Mariners won.) 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, I begin worrying about my job security after listening to yesterday's episode. Welcome to Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Here's your host, D.C. Lundberg. Taylor's never hosting this show again. Just kidding, just kidding. He did a wonderful job, didn't he, gang? This, I am D.C. Lundberg, ladies and gentlemen, this is Locked-on Mariner's, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. 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 Lockdown Mariners podcast or any program here on the Lockdown Network. Before we begin, I would like to thank Taylor Blake Ward for filling in for me yesterday. He really did not get out of the park, ladies and gentlemen. Very pleased with yesterday's show. Taylor, thank you very much.

Today we're going to play the remainder of my conversation with Jason Burke of Lockton A's that we had on Sunday. Some housekeeping ticket to first, however. Prior to Monday's game, Ty France was activated from the disabled list, and Telegram Sam Haggerty was placed on the DL. We have played the second half of my conversation with Jason Burke over the course of the previous two shows. We're going to play the first part of it over the course of this entire program,

and here we go. All right, so one thing that I've noticed the last couple of weeks, I don't know if it's been Mondays or Tuesdays or what day of the week it has been, but the Mariners were no hit last week, and they were almost no hit the week before, I believe. So do you expect that trend to continue with the way that the Mariners are playing right now? Yes.

Unfortunately, I do. Especially going into Oakland where the Mariners have historically had problems. They're just in such an offensive rut right now. Saturday, they broke out for four runs, but I think they scored three of them in the eighth or the ninth inning or something to that effect. In the first game of the Padre series,

scored one. And this third game of the Padre series, they scored two. They just can't, they cannot do anything right offensively. Part of the problem is that some of the more key contributors are on the injured list. Ty France is on the injured list. Dylan Moore is on the injured list and he had really started to turn it around after maybe the worst start I've ever seen. So, yes, I do expect that trend to continue, unfortunately.

Well, and they got Montas for the A's and also Cole Irvin. and Montas has a lot of stuff. So if the Mariners are just swinging and missing, well, you know, wildly, that could be a thing. But Cole Irvin hits his spots and keeps guys guessing. So I could see both them giving the Mariners current lineup some trouble. And, I mean, as an A's fan, looking forward to it, as a Mariners fan, I'm sure that that's not fun whatsoever,

considering the woes currently as we head into Monday's game. Yeah, the Mariners have had trouble with pitchers who have a wide array of pitches who also locate their spots. That's, and that's what we saw yesterday out of U. Darvish. And sounds like Frankie Montas is a similar type picture to that. Spencer Turnbull is that type of pitcher, and he's one of the pitchers that no hit the Mariners. So basically the more pitches you have and the better you mix your pitches, the better you're going to do against the Seattle Mariners.

If you're strictly a fastball pitcher, the Mariners can hit the fastball, particularly if it's a mistake, if it's left in the middle of the zone or something to that effect. but you need to keep these guys guessing, and for the most part, opposition pictures have been doing that. So I've noticed, I was looking at some of the fan graph stats, and it seems like it's basically a home run or bust offense. Is that kind of what they're doing right now?

They're not doing, you know, a lot of hits other than home runs. Is that generally, because they're among the league leaders in home runs, but they're also hitting like 198 as a team. So it doesn't look like much else is going on there. Is that basically how you would call it as well? That's exactly how I would call it. I've made this point on the show several times over the last couple weeks.

If the Mariners don't hit the ball out of the ballpark, they generally do not score. If memory serves, and it might not, the one run that was scored in Friday night's game was a home run. I could be wrong about that. I was watching the Spokane Indians play the Everett Aqua Sox here. And Mariners fans, you'll be happy to know that the Everett Aquas Sox look very, very good. But there's also a few years away from reaching the major league level. Got to see Julio Rodriguez play.

Didn't have a particularly spectacular night to strikeouts, I believe. He d-hed in the game and hit second. So, yeah, I mean, that's kind of what I've been perceiving. And if you're looking at the stat cast numbers and that bears it out, then I think that's the analytics speaking to that. And my eyeballs speaking to that. So it's kind of happening. Yeah.

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Here once again is your host, D.C. Lundberg. Thank you very much, Joey Martin. We will now continue with the next portion of Sunday's talk with Jason Burke. And the starters have just not been able to get anything going, really. is that they got Kikuchi has been good, and then Logan Gilbert, I think, is the other starter that we know of. When I checked last night, they did not have an announced starter for Wednesday's game, I believe. But, yeah, I know that Gilbert's been struggling, but his FIP is a lot better than his ERA. So where do you think that he needs to improve?

It's only been a couple of starts, and I know that it's very early in this Sterling Prospect's career. But, you know, like Luzardo, still trying to figure things out. Where do you see him struggling and what can he work on? so far. Slider command. His curveball has looked better than his slider. There are some in the Mariners front office. The mayor's front office is kind of split as between which of his breaking pitches is better. I happen to like the looks of his curveball, but it's been more effective for him. He's had better command and better break on a slider in the minor leagues as he has in the major leagues thus far. It's just a few little things that he has to iron out. Also, he tends to have

trouble in one particular inning. And the first inning in both of the starts were both very, very good and very, very efficient, and then ran into major problems in the second inning, and in neither start was able to survive the fourth, and he threw 70 plus pitches

in both efforts. He's also working on a change-up, which I don't think he's maybe thrown one or two in his major league starts, but it's a pitch in potentiia, as it were, and it's still very much in development. And once that comes around for him, that will also serve him very well. This will be his third major league start, and we'll just kind of see what

happens, but I think slider command is probably the big one for him. Okay. And one thing that the A's offense is very good at doing is not beating up on the guys that they probably should that are struggling and Logan Gilbert trying to figure it out. The A's almost let Jose Cantana just roll all over him for a while. They got to him eventually, but Jose Cantana dominated that lineup for almost five winning. So that's what you get to look forward to. So maybe Logan Gilbert has a breakout game. We'll find out. Maybe, but that's kind of what I felt about the Meritors and the Tigers series that Spencer Turnbull, you know, effective major league pitcher, good major league pitcher. And when he was throwing the no-hitter, it didn't seem to me like

he had no-hit stuff. He was obviously very, very good, but I didn't realize he had a no-hitter until, you know, very late in the ball game. Because it just wasn't that type of dominating performance like we saw out of John Means. And then Terrick Scooball the next day, who's had a, let's face it, a poor Major League career up to this point, even though he is a young up-and-comer for the Tigers.

The Mariners can make pitchers like that look like Cy Young. And against Scooball, they just couldn't do anything. And he had something of, I think, a five-and-a-half ERA going into that game. The Tigers team, ERA went from 495 to 466 during that Mariners series. That's not a good pitching staff, and the Mariners couldn't do anything against them. I'm very much looking forward to this series now that you say that.

I mean, the Mariners have one of the worst offenses and one of the worst overall pitching staffs, but their bullpen has actually been very, very good. Their relief pitcher ERA is 381. That's 11th in baseball. They limit the walks. I think they're at sixth in walks right now in fewest walks. and then their ground ball rate is eighth, so they're just keeping the ball on the ground.

You got to like what you're seeing out of the relievers, and I got to ask, how was our old friend Kendall Graven doing? Because he looks filthy these days. He went on the injured list yesterday. No! Yeah, I mean, the Merrittors pitching staff has just been chewed up by injuries. Four starters are on the injured list right now,

and that's why there hasn't been an announced starter for Wednesday. It's going to be a bullpen game. so it'll be Robert Dugger or Eric Swanson, in all likelihood. They'll go three innings, and they'll have to piece it together from there. But that's why the pitching numbers have been worse, and why the bullpen honestly has been faltering as of late. Will Vest and Anthony Mosevic have just been working an awful lot, and their commandist is not what it was.

I don't Mosevic ran into a little bit of bad luck yesterday with a kind of a flare into right field, which Mitch Hanigur ordinarily catches, but he couldn't make the play. It goes for a double, and the inning spiral out of control from there. but Vest has had command problems when he did not earlier in the season. Ditto Will Vest. Those two really have been the two most reliable bullpen arms up until this point. They've just been overworked.

Drew Steckin Rider's been very good down there also. He's still effective. It's just right now it's a mess, but that's really because of the injuries and the innings that have had to be covered in bullpen starts in Marco Gonzalez's stead. If you got a question or a comment, Send it to Lockdown Mariners at gmail.com. I'll reply to it on the air in a future mailbag segment.

Questions and comments on any subject at all are welcome and encouraged. It doesn't have to be about sports or baseball or anything of that sort. Coming up, the conclusion of the chat I had with Jason Burke on Sunday. But first, this from Bet Online, the fastest and easiest way to bet on all your sports action. Baseball seasons in full swing and you can track the action at Bet Online. Get all the latest news, odds, and info for all your sporting needs, including Major League Baseball, NBA, the NHL, and all your UFC and MMA action. Before the next pitch, head on over to bet online on your laptop or mobile device

and check out all the great sporting news, sign-up bonuses, and contest info. Don't sit on the sidelines anymore, as this is your chance to get into the game as teams prep for the runs of the playoffs. Head over to the website or use your mobile device today to sign up and receive your 50% welcome bonus on your first deposit. Bet online, your online sportsbook experts, promo code Locked On. Welcome back to Lockdown Mariners. Here once again is your host, D.C. Lundberg. Thank you very much, J.M. Gang, I sure hope you had a better Tuesday evening than I did.

not a great day to be D.C. Lundberg, as if you couldn't tell from my phoning in of this particular episode. Here is the last part of Sunday's talk with Jason Burke. Has some of the injury woes, the IL sense right now? Is that because of the COVID outbreak, or is this something unrelated? And this is more injury and not COVID related. Almost all of them are, honest to goodness, injuries. Okay. Prior to Friday's game, the mayor's had to place four players, all of them pitchers, if I recall.

On the COVID injured list, two of them came back the next day. on Saturday. And I don't remember who they are because they just have so many players on the injured list who have actual physical injuries, arm injuries, shin injuries, calf injuries, that sort of thing. And it's not just the pitching staff. Evan White has been out for a while. Thai France has been out for a while, although he may come back Monday or Tuesday. Dylan Moore is out, like I said.

The injury bug has really gotten to this team. and I think that is what part of the problem is, but the other part of the problem, at least offensively, is that most of the hitters try to pull everything. And Scott Service and the hitting coaches have really been emphasizing, something I've been talking about on this show forever, hitting the ball the other way, using all fields,

and the players who are buying into that theory are the ones who are having to success, Kyle Lewis, chiefly. He's been hitting decently. He's above the team average, but he hasn't been hitting as many holes. runs as I think that we're kind of used to seeing. He obviously started on the I.L. And all that stuff.

Is he looking like he's going to be what he's shown glimpses of? Or were those hot streaks? And now teams are figuring him out. And it's just a matter of, you know, battling back and forth on making adjustments here and there. I'm really not sure. Since he did start the year on the injured list, he got a late start. Last year, he had a great first half, outstanding, wonderful first half, and a miserable second half.

And he's kind of gone through stretches this year. or one kind of small stretch where he wasn't hitting. He got off to a slow start too and then picked it up. But one thing that he has done consistently all year is walk. He's taken a fair number of walks and gotten on base. And I've always felt that the home runs at the major league level for Lewis may have been a bit of an anomaly because he didn't show that type of home run power in the minor leagues where he was more of a gap power guy.

And that might be where his power manifests itself in the major leagues more in terms of doubles than home runs. But hitting is contagious, as, you know, that's the old phrase, hitting is contagious. Not hitting also seems to be contagious with the Seattle Mariners. So if somebody picks it up, I don't know who that's going to be, then that might, you know, wake the rest of the team up, so to speak, or at least I'm really hoping that that's the case,

because the Mariners, pro sports teams are in the entertainment business. Let's face it. The Mariners are committing the cardinal sin of entertainment. they're boring. This is a boring major league baseball team. When you know that they're going to go out there and, you know, hit three, four, maybe five hits in all likelihood, score, you know, maybe a run or two, maybe even zero in all likelihood. It's not a fun team to watch right now.

And hopefully when the Mariners get some of those players off the injured list and they can start contributing again, they'll turn it around. And, you know, they're banking on the future. They keep saying, well, you know, the future of this. team is really bright. In the entertainment industry, that doesn't work. It works in stocks and commodities trading. It doesn't work in entertainment.

And yes, they do have a bright future, but it's not now. And people are paying to see this team now. And there's just really not anything going for them. With talking about the future and everything, I don't know how I haven't mentioned them in almost 14 minutes of recording, but Mitch Hanager, let's talk about him for a second. Yes. Yes.

He's been really good. I just wanted to make it sound like I was going to talk about Jared Kellanick, who I will at some point. But yeah, Mitch Hanigler, he's been really good. He's been arguably the best hitter on the team right now, and he's missed time the last couple of years. And good for him. I'm very excited to see Mitch Hanigar do well again.

He has absolutely been the Mariners best hitter so far. He has been the Mariners most consistent hitter so far, started the season in the lead-off role. I'm not a huge fan of him in the lead-off role, but the Mariners don't have a lead-off hitter. When Kelnik was brought up, they put him in the lead-off role, and he had that one great game, his second game, where he hit the home run in those two doubles.

But other than that, he really hasn't done a whole lot, but he does have a very good approach at the plate. He keyholes. He will not swing at a pitch unless he's looking for it early in the count, and then with two strikes, he'll just try to put the bat on the ball. That's a winning approach. So it's going to turn around for him, Eventually. He got a day off yesterday, which I believe was his first day off. He did pinch hit later.

But sometimes when a hitter's in a slump, taking a day off is just what the doctor ordered. Kalnick might be the one to turn it around to get the rest of the offense going. A lead off hitter can do that anyway. But back to Manninger, he's got what, 12, 13 home runs so far. He's among the American League leaders. And I don't expect that to carry over the rest of the season. But he does hit a fair amount of home runs. He's got a good approach to the plate. He's using all fields for the most part, like Kyle Lewis's. J.P. Crawford's another one who's been hitting the ball up the middle and the other way. And he's been one of the better hitters. And it seems strange to say if somebody hitting 245 that they've been one of the better heaters on a team, but that's where the Mariners are.

Looking at Jared Kellanick's baseball savant page, he's having trouble with fastballs and breaking balls right now. He's good at off speed, but fastballs, he has a batting average of 118, breaking balls, 083. And obviously, it's the first, you know, week and a half or whatever of him in the majors. But you can kind of throw him whatever you want to at this point, it seems like, as long as it's not, you know, 85 miles an hour. And he'll get there, obviously. I'm not trying to, you know, bury him a week and a half into his big league career.

I'm just like, those are usually the things like usually they're crushing fastballs. And then they start getting that heavy diet of breaking balls. And you're like, all, let's see what those guys made out of. currently that is not the case right now and that is interesting to me that's the only reason that I bring it up because I really want to see Jared Kellanick bury the Astros

play easier against the A's but bury the Astros probably the Rangers that's what I want to see more of personally I get it that is all of the actual questions that I have for you right now all right

well I'll talk more about Kellnick a little bit actually just very briefly he'll turn it around He's, you know, the fastball average, it is only, what, a week and a half. Yeah, that's such a small sample size that he's going to hit the fastball. Every major league hitter can hit a fastball, and he's going to be, he's going to be no different. You can follow Jason on Twitter and the locker room at By Jason B. B-Y-J-A-S-O-N-B.

Both of us may open up a room at the locker room during this afternoon's game in Oakland, as a matter of fact. So if you follow either one of us or both of us, look out for that. It's going to be another bullpen day for the Mariners while the A's will run James Caprillion out to the mound. Jason talked about the A's starting pages, including Mr. Caprillion, on Monday's show. Might have been yesterday's. I don't remember quite honestly.

Anyways, that's going to be all for today. I didn't watch last night's game, but I'll be talking about this afternoon's contest on tomorrow's show. Remember, it's a 1237 start time in the Coliseum. Remember to download rate and follow Locked on Mariners. Look for us in any podcasting app you can think of. Leave a rating and review if your podcasting app of choice so allows. Thanks for listening, gang.

I'll talk to you tomorrow. Get all the sports news you need in under 20 minutes with the Locked On Today podcast. Host Peter Bukowski will keep you updated on the latest news in every major sport with Locked On's team of local experts. Follow the Locked On Today podcast on the Odyssey app or wherever else you get your podcasts. This is Joey Martin speaking for Locked On Mariners, part of the Locked On podcast network.