PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - D-backs-Mariners: Dave Sims on Mariners' offseason, Paul Sewald, Josh Rojas, more

Episode Date: April 26, 2024

In another edition of On the Record, Jesse is joined by Mariners play-by-play broadcaster Dave Sims to discuss Josh Rojas' hot start with the Mariners, Seattle's monstrosity of a pitching staff, his impression of the Diamondbacks and more.An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX Events: Get your tickets to Suns Takeovers, Coyotes & Suns Watch Parties at BetMGM, and MORE here: https://gophnx.com/events/Factor Mealkits: Use code PHNXDBACKS50 to get 50% OFF your first Factor box and free wellness shots for life with any active subscription at https://factormeals.com/phnxdbacks50Desert Financial Credit Union: Open a free checking account online with Desert Financial Credit Union and get $200 in bonuses https://www.desertfinancial.com/200Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase.Circle K:  Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!OGeez!: OGeez! is not your average cannabis-infused gummy. Head over to https://www.ogeezbrands.com to find where you can purchase. Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. Four Peaks: Follow on social @fourpeaksbrew & @fourpeakspub! Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. 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 in to another edition of On the Record where we're talking with people in the know about upcoming opponents for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Of course, the Diamondbacks opening a three game series this weekend with the Seattle Mariners. And who better to talk about the Mariners than the one and only Dave Sims, their broadcast, their play-by-play broadcaster on the TV side. Dave, thanks for, thanks for hopping on. We really appreciate it. You back. Good to be with you. How you doing? I am fantastic, Dave. I'm looking at the Seattle Mariner. Mariners team. And, you know, it seems like out of the gate, it wasn't great. But the team seems to be coming around three straight series wins. You get a series win in Texas over, of course, the reigning world champion Texas Rangers headed back home for this series against the Diamondbacks. And leading the AL West right now with a 13 and 12 record, how are the how are the vibes right now with the Mariners in general? Well, it's all good. I mean, you know, I don't think this team was suffering badly when they had that.

two and four road trip was in Montreal no not Montreal Toronto and I'm Milwaukee the story's pitching pitching pitching starting pitching it's been sensational the relief course been great I think yeah we had a graphic up yesterday the Mariners bullpen it had pitched the fewest in a sentence because I attribute to the starters have been getting deep in a consistent basis and really thrown well and we're getting just enough hits like yesterday the two winnings where there were hits it was a two-run homer tied France a two-run homer Luis And that was it.

And the bullpen came in and saved the day. And they come out with the win in Texas. And they're going into Texas having lost the last eight games there. So that's a very satisfying series win. So I want to just look at this last year as a whole for the Mariners. It seems like at the trade deadline, I know the Mariners were just a few games over 500. They didn't sell entirely. I know, I mean, obviously the Paul Seawald trade with the Diamondbacks was a big one.

they did get a couple of major league ready pieces back in that trade. But they certainly didn't buy at the trade deadline. And then they actually had a really good second half of the year, wind up missing the wild card by just a game, you know, go into this off season. They had a busy off season as Jerry Depoto tends to do. But it seems like fans are maybe, you know, maybe feel like there was more to be done here.

How is this last year just been as a whole? Well, back up just a little bit. August was a great month. club record like 21 wins. You looked at all percentages and making a playoffs. They were very high. And then things turned sour in September and missed by a game. The Saturday, was it the last Saturday of the season,

lose the game to Texas, win the next day, but that Saturday loss was a killer. You know what? I live in New York City during the off season, but I know from when I got back here and when I would tune in to Seattle Sports Radio to two stations and read the papers, people were not happy.

But, you know, And then he had the 54% thing that Jerry said, which he regrets. And you know what? Now the team's off to a good start that has rebounded from a bad start. That is now going into the month of May feeling pretty good. But we'll see. It's early. It's not time to freak out.

It really isn't. And, you know, the new mortal words of many, that's baseball. So over the offseason, the Mariners, as I said, I mean, busy off season is Jerry tends to do for sure. and I looked at the offseason for Seattle and saw, you know, Mitch Garver coming in on a contract, Horri Polanco, that being a big trade. It seemed to me that this offense would be better coming into this year in large part because of those two guys. But so far, you know, at least looking at the numbers, Garver and Polanco haven't really started all that well.

Juanco has done pretty well defensively. He had a couple hiccups here and there. He's made a couple of really nice catches on a couple of bloopers that could have been really, defeating, say the least, one in Toronto, one yesterday. Garber has not hit yet, but the other guys are starting to pick it up. You know, Hanager got off to a good start. Julio's slow start, he's picking it up. I think what they're saying about this ball club with the additions of Polanco and Garver,

you had Dom Kanzone, have a nice little run there for a while. Better balance, better ability to hit against right-handers with two more left-handers. Josh Rojas is off to a good start. So it's a good team. It's all about pitching. It's really, I mean, look at that starting rotation. It's one of the best and not the best in the game. And that's how they ride.

You mentioned Josh Rojas. Of course, he was a bit of a fan favorite here in his time in Arizona started. Got off to a rough start last year. The Diamondbacks made that tough decision to deal him at the deadline. It sounds like looking at the numbers, it sounds like Rojas, this has really turned things around and been a really big part of that Mariners team. He's played a dandy third base. He's made some great plays.

You know, he's playing almost exclusively against right-handers. But he's done a very good job. He's turned some key double plays to end to innings. He's made a couple of hot, you know, plays on hot smashes to his left end to his right. Good throwing on accuracy. He made one or two errors. He's been a nice addition. Gino, we loved Gino when he was here.

He was, the handings for his, we absolutely loved him. Jerry made all those moves because we had too many guys strives. break it out. He had Kellnick and Kelnick and Taska Hernandez and Gino and it was tough to say goodbye to those guys, but it's baseball, you know, it's a business. And I think the balance of this lineup, I think in the end, early in the first month, I think

in the end it's going to really bear itself out. I think it's going to work out. It seems like the Diamondbacks got a couple of Mariners fan favorites of sorts with Paul Seawald and also with Geno. Oh, that's a really terrific guy.

and Seawald, you know, he's nails. I mean, you saw what he did in the playoffs last year. And, you know, he's a good dude. I mean, on the human being scale, he's highly regarded. And so it's easy to understand how they were both fan favorites. And Gino kept everything alive. If things got down, he was able to pick it up. If it was already up, he kept it up.

So, yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing him. You mentioned the pitching staff. I went into this year thinking the Mariners had probably the best rotation in baseball. I think this weekend, the Diamondbacks are getting Emerson Hancock tonight against Zach Gallen. D-back starters aren't official for the next couple of days, but we have George Kirby and then Logan Gilbert going for the Mariners.

How is that group so far? I know Kirby's ERA is a little bit high. Logan Gilbert's ERA is incredible. It seems like at the end of the day, it's going to be a really incredible group. Real simple. They throw strikes on the OO. Scott likes, Scott Service and manager likes to talk about this and for good reason. He had Pete Woodworth, pitching coach.

O-O-O counts, they're really good. O-1 counts, they're really good. We don't walk that many. I think the last time I looked, I think we had the fewest walks in the American League and among the leaders in the majors. You know, challenge people, get after them, throw strikes, state command of zone. And these are all romides that they talk about all the time, but they're putting it into action. And it's working.

And all five of these guys have really good stuff. Hancock makes a team because Brian Wu had an elbow injury. He's working his way back. This kid is pretty poised. This is his first time making the club out of camp. And he's got a good arsenal. I think when you look at the things that these guys throw, you know, Logan Gilbert's got like six pitches.

I mean, it's crazy. George Burby. Kirby fills up the strikes off. And same with Bryce Miller. Bryce Miller's added more weapons to be able to combat left-hand hitters. It's a lot of fun. And you go to bat every day knowing, hey, man, we got a really good chance to win a ballgame. And then you look at the back end, adding Ryan Stanach to Munoz.

And we still got, hopefully we'll get, let's see, Matt Brash coming back before long. Hopefully sometime in May. So we'll see. It's a good start. It's one month. You can't get too nuts. You can't get too up. You can't get too down.

For sure. Dom Canzone, I know he's hurt right now, which is certainly unfortunate for the Mariners side. He came up last year with the Diamondbacks. And it seemed like they had a pretty decent player there. Obviously, the debacks needed to close her. And they paid a hefty price to get it. What are your initial impressions of Canzone, even though he's out right now? Wow.

It's a shame. I mean, for his sake, I mean, he could be getting Wally. pipped here because Jonathan Class A came up and he's switched at her, a little bit of pop, can really run the bases, can play all three outfield positions. Dom was really doing a nice job. He was

susceptible to breaking balls early on in the first couple of weeks. Then he started turning around as I look at the numbers. He's got six home, he's got three home runs. He's only played 14 games, slammed into a shoulder, into the wall, injuring his shoulder

on a brilliant catch. So I hope at some point he'll be back, but he's been impressive. And he's a guy to pretty much almost rebuild his body. I mean, his lower half, you look at him. You look at his upper half. I think he's carrying 212. He's up from about a buck 90, and it's all muscle. So he's been impressive and he's been a good ad.

Last thing here for you, Dave. Impressions of the Diamondbacks. Obviously, this is a team that wasn't really expected to go to the World Series last year. But that's what they did. They had a pretty big off season. They're off to a bit of a slower start at 12 and 14 here. But what are your expectations of, you know, a matchup against this Diamondbacks team? You know, like anything, I'm looking forward to them.

I haven't seen them really since, you know, what I saw in spring training. I mean, I'm not going to go on that. And, you know, I'm born and raised in Philly. And I was disappointed that the fellows could not win the world, you know, get to the World Series. But, you know, Arizona did a heck of a job. It's a good ball club. And I'm happy for Ketel Marte. He was with us for a while.

I, you know, I got my eyes on the Mariners Day and a day out. I'm not watching a whole lot of Arizona Diamond respectfully, not watching a lot of DMAX baseball. But I expect this going to be a heck of a matchup. Tori does a great job like his staff, and they know what they're doing over there. So this homestand is really going to be a challenge. You've got the Diamondbacks for three,

and then the Braves coming for three. And I tell you what, it's going to be a really good barometer for the ball club here in Seattle. Well, given how many trades, Jerry DePoto and Mike Hayes and have made in recent years, there's all sorts of players playing their former teams in this series. So it should be a lot of fun to watch. There'll be a lot of hugs in dapping up in the outfield.

It's coming up later on tonight. I can tell you that right now. Well, Dave, thanks again for hopping on. We really appreciate it. This is great. You bet. Good to see it. Thanks for the opportunity.

Be welcome.