The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - KJR’s Softy Joins The Show Before The Astros vs Mariners Series

Episode Date: July 18, 2025

KJR’s Softy Joins The Show Before The Astros vs Mariners Series

All right, our good friend, the most successful member of the Seattle Powerhouse Radio Station, KJR, the sports leader. Softie's with us here to smack talk his beloved Seattle Mariners who are about to drop two out of three at home to get a second half of the season off to a disappointing start. Softie, how the hell are you? This is just so dumb. This whole thing that we do is just so dumb, you know, because I only hear from you when things are going well. Astros are five games up. You know, where were you last year when the M's were 10 games up and you guys were fading away? And then I got a phone call from you.

Oh, the Mariners have blown their divisional lead. Let's get softy on again. So once again, our relationship just proves it to be what it's always been, which is one side and it's always about that. You better call me when the Texans play the Seattle Seahawks on ESPN the Ocho on the Monday night game. Monday night. Yes. Are you coming up for that bad boy? No chance.

Okay. All right. No, no, I cannot. Tim Darlin's got that scared, doesn't he? No. Taken into boot. Yeah, it's fine. I don't care.

All right. First and foremost, we're going to get to some other stuff before we get to the Mariners Astros. Adam Silver is just pulling y'all's chain and I'm sorry for you because your city deserves an NBA team. What's going on with that? When you say pulling our chain, what do you mean by that? Like he's using us as a pawn now to get Portland an arena like David Stern did 13 years ago with Sacramento. because there's a lot of people that think you might be right. I mean, there's just a lot of skepticism, man, in Seattle, right?

Like, this has been 17 years now since they played their last game against the Mavericks, 18 years since Howard Schultz became a Benedict Arnold and the most hated sports figure in the history of Seattle sports. I have not been to Starbucks in 18 years because of that bastard. That's my own little personal protest. I know it doesn't mean jack squat to him, but it makes me feel better. and I'm doing it. So there's a lot of skepticism in Seattle. The NBA is using us as a pawn again, and he brought out the Portland thing kind of out of

the blue the other night, and people were like, whoa, is this happening again where he's going to threaten Portland with relocation, maybe to Seattle, unless they get off their ass and build a brand new arena for the Blazers down there in Portland. And then the conversation turns to, well, what if they can't get an arena? And what if Phil Knight doesn't step up? to save the day, which he's already said he has no interest in buying the team from Paul Allen's sister, Jody Allen. Would they possibly move and would Sonic fans want them to move? And then you get all the high and mighty sports fans, oh, I don't want to do to them what was done to us and I want nothing to do with the Blazers. Hey, look, all of us would love to have an expansion

team 100 times out of 100. But if the only option, Maddie, is the Blazers, give me the damn Blazers. I'm not going to feel bad about it either. Get some T-shirts made. Give me the Dan Blazers. Bring Kevin Collaboral back. Give me 35-year-old Damian Lillard. Give me, give me Clyde Drexler. Give me Jerome Percy. Give me the ghost of Bill Walton with a headband

back in the day in the 70s. Come on. Give me Jack Ramsey. Give me all it, baby. I want it all. The jailblazers. You don't want that group. Oh, yeah. You don't want that group. David Stademeyer. Oh, wow.

The Wismater. I want it all, baby. Well, I want you to root for the Rockets this year because former Seattle Sonic great Kevin Durant is come back to Houston, Texas. Or never. Yeah. There's a love-hate relationship with him up here as well in Seattle. I love the guy, you know, he was only here for a year, but I don't know if you remember or not.

You probably don't because there really would be no reason for you guys to remember it at all. 2008, they're playing their last game ever against the Mavericks. Clay Bennett's in the crowd sitting courtside. Crowds yelling, save our Sonics, save our Sonics. And Kevin Durant as a rookie, is egging the crowd on, waving his hands in the air, keep going, keep going, right in front of the guy that just drafted him number two overall, less than a year prior.

So for me, just for doing that, he's kind of a hero. You know, he's been a little bit sensitive about stuff since he's left Seattle. I think he's got to stop worrying about what people say about him on social media, but let's face it, the guy is in his, he's in his mid-30s. At this point in his life, he is what he is. but I think we've always kind of appreciated him for the guy he was when he was here when he was 19 years old. But, Maddie, that was a long damn time ago, my friend. Yeah, and don't forget Jeff Green, former Sonic Great as well.

We can't forget Jeff Green, J.G. Yeah. Jeff Green out of Georgetown. Hoy is in a house, baby. All right, there we go. Let me tell you, it's 907 there. He wakes up that excited. Yeah, if it's not Starbucks, it's some kind of coffee.

My wife actually asked me, why are you up so? early. I said because I can't sleep. I'm fired up to go on the air with Matt Thomas in Houston. That's exactly right. I'm pacing around the house all night long. I got all kinds of energy. I took a bunch of melatonin, tried to pass out, a bunch of Benadryl. Nothing worked, man. And I just couldn't sleep. I was so fired up when I was just living with so much anticipation to come on this radio show. So I've been ready to go for five hours. That's what I'm talking about. Softie KJR Seattle, the sports leader up there in the Pacific Northwest. All right. So the Ms go to Detroit and sweep the Tigers. Meanwhile, the Astros go one and five on their homestown before the break. Look, we haven't heard from anybody from the Astros or the Mariners all week long leading up to this.

But how is your local 9 feeling with a chance here to cut into the Astero lead even more this weekend? Well, I'll tell you what, I actually am shocked at how optimistic I am about the second half of the year. normally I'm just the big negative bastard, right? It just thinks everything's going to fall apart. The pitching is going to go down the drain. Julio had a great series against the Tigers, but then had the All-Star break, and it was a terrible time for the All-Star break for him,

and Cal Raleigh is going to cool off, and this thing's going to fall apart. So that normally would be my attitude, but I just think the major difference between the second half-mariners and the first half-mariners is that at some point very soon, probably in the next couple of weeks when Bryce Miller comes back,

they're going to have a full, healthy rotation. And they're almost there. They've got Castile. They've got Kirby. They've got Gilbert and they've got the All-Star and Brian Wu. So they've got a dynamite rotation. And guys, here's the deal. They really haven't had that the entire season because for the first time since this

foursome got together, if you want to call it a five-some, that's fine. They've been relatively healthy. That's why so many people like me were pissed. off about what happened a year ago when they blew that 10-game lead and missed the playoffs. They had great pitching. They led the American League in ERA, and they became the first team to not make the playoffs since the Blue Jays in 2008 when you led the league in ERA. You leave the league in ERA. You make the playoffs, damn it, especially when it's easier now than ever to get into the playoffs in baseball. So last year was an embarrassment for this franchise. Absolutely

embarrassment. But here's the deal. First half of the year, Kirby, Gilbert, and Miller only made 32 starts combined. First half of the year last year, they made 59. That's 27 games, Matt. 27 games in the first half of the year where they did not have Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, or Bryce Miller. Yet they're only five games out, and they got the number three wild card right now. Look out, baby, when those horses get healthy.

Look out. a minute. Wait a minute. What the hell are you talking about? Have you seen our squad? We got Zach Short playing short. Do you even know who's actually? We got Taylor Trammell playing for the love of God. What are you talking about? Former Mariner right there. Don't you disparage Taylor Tramel. That's my boy. That's my guy. He's a sweetheart. He's a sweetheart. Ross with you as well. Ross with you as well. Honestly, look, I realize that your rotation has been banged up as well, right? Everybody's been banged up.

I got no center fielder. I got no shortstop. I've got no left fielder. Jordon's hand has fallen off. Yeah. I'm not comparing the Mariners to Houston. Hey, you know what? You guys may think, honestly,

God, you're so arrogant. It's unbelievable how arrogant people are. You may think that the baseball world revolves. You know what? You're worse than Yankee fans. Oh, no. Terrible. Terrible.

And you don't believe that. Terrible. You may think the best of the Yankee fans. baseball world revolves around you and everybody compares themselves to you. No, uh, no, you got six teams that make the damn playoffs, man. All I'm talking about, Matt, honestly, and I'm being serious about this, because we've been saying this for years now with this, with this rotation, just get your ass in, just get into the playoffs, right?

I mean, you know as well as I that anything can happen come playoff time in baseball. This is not like the NBA, it's not like the NFL. You know, maybe there's more parody and hockey in the postseason, but baseball, anything can happen, right? So get your ass in. And I just think it would be, it would be such a downer for the second consecutive year for the Mariners to have this kind of talent. And now they're complimenting it with Cal Raleigh, Randy Oroz Arena is an All-Star. J.P. Crawford's having a much better season than he had a year ago.

Deadlines two weeks away, they're going to make a move. They have to make a move. They have a ton of ammunition, buttloads of ammunition in the minor league system to go out and acquire some talent. So I'm fired up, man. And it's not all about the Astros. or beating them. Frankly, I don't even give a damn if you guys win the division. Take the division. Who cares? Who really cares anymore about division titles and baseball? Honestly, just get your ass on the playoffs. All right. You mentioned trade deadline. Ross with you as well here,

Asofti. You mentioned the trade deadline. And Seattle being hot and cold on people. How are we feeling about Jerry DePoto? And you said you think there's going to be a couple of moves made. they just have too much talent and they have too many holes to go out and fill those holes to not make it happen. I mean, you got four guys, I think, in the top 90, five guys in the top 100, whatever, and baseball America's prospect list. I mean, they got a young catcher named Harry Ford, who really is kind of blocked by Cal Raleigh. There's nowhere for him to go, and he's in AAA crushing the ball. He's a candidate.

You know, Colen Emerson, infielder is another candidate. Las Montes is another guy that people are high on right now and double A, but he's a candidate to be moved. They've just got too many bullets to fire at the deadline to not go out and make a move. They need a third baseman. They need a first basement. They might need a second baseman. And they probably need a reliever. So that's the thing with all those holes that we're talking about, they're managing to kind of hang in there with an earshot of the West.

And, you know, right there on the wild card race, man. So I'm telling you this, if they don't significantly improve, and that might mean going out and getting Jared Duran or maybe a E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. A. E. A. E. A. E. A. E. A. E. A. Eiffon Baxterus, along with Josh, whatever, we love you. I, I am not. I don't hold back, man. I don't care too. deadline. Jerry to Poto is going to get barbecued. Barbecued in this town. And you will barbecue them on Twitter because you're not afraid to do that. And for that, we love you. I am not. I don't hold back, man. I don't care

two craps about Seattle sports, but I follow you. I don't even mute you. I actually follow your stuff. That's a crazy part about things. I don't even know what you're talking about half the time. It's UW crap all over the place, but I still follow you. I still read it. I still love it. Because you have passion. I appreciate that. I got to be honest with you. I haven't seen a thing that you've tweeted.

in the six months. That feels, that feels, that feels right. Last thing. That's the right move. When Cal Raleigh appears on the sports leader, do you call him Cal, Mr. Raleigh, or do you call him the dumper? How do you refer to him? Yeah, we just call him, we call him the man.

He is the freaking man, dude. I mean, he is, first of all, did you hear about the latest endorsement he's got? Have you guys heard about that? Oh, my. Soil diapers? Is it depends or what? What do we got? No, Honey Bucket.

He's doing a deal with Honey Bucket, the Outhouse. Honey Bucket. Yeah. If you ever find yourself out and about and you got to go, look for a honeybucket because Cal Rowley endorses honeybucket now. Do you guys have those down there in Houston or is that a northwest? No, we have plumbing here. Yeah. We, you know, we take showers inside.

We take showers inside. Well, you know what? It's not 5,000 degrees in Seattle so we can all shower outside and go to me and relieve ourselves on our lawns. But he's doing an endorsement for an out-house company now. I mean, look, the guy is, he's on pace to have a historic year, as you know, and, you know, going after Bonds is probably going to be a little bit too much. He would have to average a home run every two games, the rest of the way, to tie Barry Bonds. But can he get the judge's record? Can he be the first Mariner home, Mariner player ever to get to 60? But here's the deal with him. He really is strikeout home run walk guy right now.

I mean, you know, I took some time off in the last few weeks. In the last three weeks, Kyle Raleigh's got nine hits, Matt, and six of them. homers. Okay? So he's kind of starting to remind me of McGuire back in the day when he would have, you know, 45 home runs, but 70 RBIs, you know? Well, just know that he's going to have a bad, he's going to have a worst second half. He's only going to get you probably seven or eight home runs. And you guys are going to peter out and maybe slip into the third wild car where you'll lose in two straight games of call to season. You focus on the Seahawks. Yeah, well, you know what? Listen, man, I see, I know what you're doing and I don't like it. It's not really nice to be honest with you. Yeah, that's fair. You've invited to be on this radio show to be your guest.

I think you speak your guests better. All right. I will look forward to talking with you when the Mariners come to Houston or when the Texans play the Seahawks on ESPN where you have to have Fubu to watch the game. It's Fubo, by the way. Whatever, I don't care what it is. It's on ESPN Plus.

It doesn't even really count. This guy a thing or two about 2000. Matt, this isn't 1975 anymore, pal. We're not home playing our Atari with rabbit ears to get TV. We have things like the Internet now, by the way. You can stream shows. Hey, what time is a fabulous sports babe on KGR? That's all I want to know.

The fabulous sports babe, Nancy De Nellenlin. You know what? I never got a chance to work with her. I've been here for 32 years, and just as she was going out, I was coming in, which probably would have been a good thing, because I'm not sure if two of us would have gotten along. All right. But I'll tell her that you said alone when I do talk to her again.

She lives in Florida now. Nice. The legend, Softie. KJR. Listen to him, 5 to 9 p.m. Central 3 to 7 Pacific on the I heart radio app. How about that? That's what I do.

That's what I do. All right. Peace out. Ron Burgundy. Screw you, Houston.