Can The #Mariners Be AL Contenders? w/MLB Network’s Adnan Virk | Seattle Sports

Can The #Mariners Be AL Contenders? w/MLB Network’s Adnan Virk | Seattle Sports

give me uh give me the the basic sense of this season. I was talking a couple hours ago and it’s not just a Mariner thing. Like I’m having a really hard time figuring out who anybody is over the course of this season cuz the moment you feel like you got a beat on all but four or five teams, they change like the next week. Yeah, it’s been first off a really good year for baseball. And somebody asked me why that is and I go, “Well, it’s pretty easy. When the Yankees and the Mets and the Dodgers and the Cubs are all doing really good, it’s a good sign for the sport.” throwing a little Giants and Padres’s. Unfortunately, the Red Sox have not been amongst that mix. But yeah, I listen, I think first and foremost, we all know about the pitch clock how that’s helped games. They certainly become shorter. Although I will quibble having taken my kids to Yankee Stadium and battling traffic. I don’t like showing up, you know, top three and also it’s two and a half hour game. I like extra innings once in a while, right? Just plays for the prices I’m paying. But overall, Mike, I think what’s happened is that the big market teams are really, really good and that’s been good for baseball. But to your point, who’s the dominant team? The best team right now is the Detroit Tigers. I’m not saying they’re a small market team. They’ve loved baseball in 125 years of Tigers baseball. They’re on pace to win 105 games. They’ve never done that ever before. So, Detroit might be the best team in baseball. The Dodgers, even with all their starting pitcher injuries, still have the best record in the National League. They’re a little better than the Phillies, a little bit better than the Cubs, Mets in that mix as well. But I think that’s what’s making this year so exciting is that there is no clear-cut favorite. Even those who thought the Dodgers would win 120 games or something ridiculous at the start of the year. And through the national optics, who are our beloved Seattle Mariners? Well, it’s a great question, Brock. You know, for years, at least nationally at MLB Network, you’d look at the Mariners that go, “Oh my god, they just had a little bit of offense, right? The pitching staff is so great.” And that’s why the start was so surprising and perhaps an aberration. I hope not. But the hitting was really carrying me. Oh my god, Palano’s having this great year. What a star he’s been. Rosa Reed is hitting home runs. Julio Rodriguez, of course, Cal Raleigh has not stopped being an MVP contender along with Aaron Judge. He’s going to smash Salvi Pres’s record for home runs by a catcher in a single season, which is 48. And Cal might challenge 60 home runs. I know we’re a ways to get there, but it’s been a remarkable first half. And as I tell people at Cal Raleigh, what I look at specifically is the batting average. And I know nobody cares about batting average, and nor do I. It’s on base percentage. It’s OPS, it’s sling percentage, but I will point this out. Cal R if you said at the start of year, Brock, who is he? I go, he hits 220, 30 homers, and he’s really good defensively. He’s hitting 276. Like if a guy who was hitting 276 then started hitting 336, you’d go that’s a demonstrable improvement. So to Cal Rley’s credit, it’s not just the home runs he’s hitting more. He’s hitting at a better clip and he’s striking out less and walking more and he’s still great defensively, etc. But here’s what’s the quandry about the Mariners is that in the past, as I said, all pitch, no hit. So this year you go, well, Gilbert was out, Kirby was out, Woo was tremendous, so happy made the All-Star team. The guys had a great year. What’s so funny about the Seattle rotations, you say to yourself, well, who’s the best guy? Couple years ago was Castillo’s the ace. Then last year we always have Ryan Roland Smith by the way coming MLB network does a great job in Seattle Mariners games. He says to me no Gilbert’s the best guy this go really. He goes who do you like? I go I love Kirby. He goes why? I go strike out to walk racer. That guy’s awesome. I go he just pours it in there. That’s what I teach my little league kids. Just throw strikes buddy. I don’t care what happens if they hit it. They hit it. Um and then Kirby of course has been roughed up this year. Hurt to start the year. Yesterday was unbelievable. He out pitches Paul skins. So unfortunately it’s gone back to Brock what we see in the past which is now the Mariners can pitch. Do they have enough offense? They win one- nothing yesterday. Thankfully, A Rosa Raina went deep, but God, I wish they could go and get some bats, man. I look at this offense and even with Julia Rodriguez being an all-star, even with Raleigh having a storybook season, Palano, by the way, has gone from really starting out so strong to then slumping again, they don’t have enough depth in their lineup. It feels like, to me, and I hate to say it, I want to see Seattle make the World Series and win a World Series. It still feels like the Astros win that division. Here’s the good news, there’s only six teams above 500 of the American League. It’s a bad league. Mariners will get that last wild card spot. Well, they they’re sure in it right now. Uh, and I want to come back to like five different things you just said. And we’ll come back to the Unfortunately, Adnan doesn’t have enough energy this morning. It’s sad. Poor guy just it’s hard for him to get up in the morning and he doesn’t I felt the hard outcome. I go I’m just going to go five minutes till they stop me. Dude, we got forever, man. We We got all kinds of time with you. Um, let’s come. Let’s start with Cal. Are people, as you talk to so many people in and around the league and the folks that, you know, a national organization like MLB Network, are people starting to understand just how good Cal is? Yeah. And I think it’s the overall game, Mike, because I said the home runs can play. And of course, it’s important. Trust me. That’s eye popping. The guy’s got 33 home runs. It’s 60 home runs by a catcher. That’s bananas. 35. But his roll is 30 35. He hit two more just while you were talking. Don’t worry about him. Exactly. But like, you know, it’s not just the home runs. As I said, the average, let’s talk about the defense. So, I said, look, look at pitch framing, which might be soon an extinct art. As you know, ABS can be coming at some point, automated balls and strikes. So, who cares how well a guy can pitch frame? Well, for now, he’s among the better pitch framers. He calls a great game. You can have a great staff like Seattle’s had for years, but the catcher is an important part of that as well. He’s got a good throwing arm. He blocks the ball well. So, on all levels, he is a complete overall player. And Anthony Recker, who’s a former catcher, made the point to me. He goes, “I don’t know how Raleigh’s not the MVP.” I said, “What are you talking about? Aaron Judge has an OPS over,200. He’s going to win his third MVP.” He goes, “But look at what Raleigh’s doing on that team. Where’s his support staff?” And I said, “Well, it’s not like Gold and Bell. Those guys are MVPs. They’re former MVPs. They’re not what they once you were.” He goes, “I’m telling you, Cal Raleigh is more valuable to his team than Aaron Judge is to the New York Yankees. Raleigh should win MVP.” Catcher, by the way, look at what a position that is. the the the toll that takes even if you’re dhaging here and there. He’s primarily a catcher. He goes, “If he can keep this up, if he hits 60 home runs, for God’s sakes, as a catcher and the Mariners can make the third wild card spot,” he goes, “That guy should be an MVP.” Doing it not in a Mickey Mouse ballpark like Yankee Stadium where Judge gets to put the ball over a short porch. Cal has to do it in the worst hitting park in all of the league. Yeah. And you know how many total days off he’s had this year? Two. I’m going to guess I was supposed to say five. Single dentist for sure. That’s crazy. two days off as a primary catcher. It’s unbelievable. I’m glad you mentioned the ballpark, Mike. I met Jerry Depo last year at the winter meetings and I said to him, you know, it must be such a challenge for you to sign hitters. Like Seattle’s a gorgeous place to visit and it’s a great pitcher park, but offense. He goes, “Well, I’ll tell you this.” He goes, “In the summer, the ball does travel.” And I go, “Come on.” And he’s like, “No.” He goes, “Listen, look at the numbers.” He goes, “April, May, no question about it. It’s a challenge.” But he goes, “June, July, August, the ball travels well.” So, I am going to be looking at the numbers this year, Mike. Let’s see how the Mariners offense improves this summer. see if Jerry’s on to something. What is the most common refrain from your peers and not just your catcher peers at MLB Network, the guys that have all played the game that have grinded? Is there a common refrain about Cal that you hear from so many of your different analysts? Well, I think there’s one aspect to it, which is that he’s he’s endlessly charismatic, Brock, and you know, it’s funny. You say, “Why is that?” I go, “Well, first off, a nickname like big dumper certainly helps and and a bobblehead in which you’re squatting is something no one’s going to turn down.” But I think he seems like he’s got that lunch pale demeanor about him, that work ethic, and I think that’s something that former players certainly appreciate. Those guys, Brock, just like yourself, they can spot Padon a while away and go, “Hey, that guy’s a great player. I’ll take his talent on my team, but I wouldn’t necessarily want him as a teammate.” With Cal Raleigh, they go, “He possesses both the tangibles and the intangibles.” And by the way, on a very costfriendly contract, like again, props to Seattle. They sign him in a very affordable deal right now. So Cal’s making that look making look like a steal. And I don’t want to project too far ahead, but again, if he if he goes at this pace, like he could be one of the great all-time hitting catchers, right? Piaza most home runs, Ben Shaw is the greatest catcher of all time, but Raleigh could be, if he projects at this rate, to be that guy. And I think ultimately, Brock, they look at not only who he is, but the level of improvement he’s shown this year. Pretty impressive. That authenticity is pretty legit when you’re around him, even just a little, it it jumps out to you. He does not carry himself like a star or any of that. just kind of a normal dude who happens to be really really good at playing baseball. Uh you mentioned adding a bat. Talking to Adnan Verk from MLB Network. Uh you mentioned adding a bat. The the challenge is where do you find one? More because of how many sellers there will actually be. So let’s play buy or seller. I got four teams on the bubble. Which of these teams do you think will sell? Arizona, Baltimore, Boston, Atlanta. You nailed it, Mike. I was about to say the problem is nobody sells anymore because this the the good news is the wild card. more teams are in it. The bad news is those teams you mentioned one of them is going to be six games under 500 and it’ll be the Orioles and they’ll be like, “Well, only five games on that third wild card spot.” And go, “Dude, your team’s not good. If you’re not 500 by July 31st, sell, sell, sell, get some assets.” But all these teams, they delude themselves into thinking, “Well, we’re just one sevengame winning streak away from being that third wild card spot.” And so all of them should sell. Quite frankly, Baltimore should absolutely sell. I’ll go with them first because you’re going to be last place the AL East and you’re not turning things around anytime soon. You thought for years you’d be a dominant powerhouse after stinking up the joint. And guess what? You didn’t focus on enough pitching. Gunnar Henderson’s a stud. Jackson Hardley much better in his second season, but you never developed pitching with the exception of Rodriguez. And obviously Corbin Burns lost. You don’t resign Santandere. Like they’ve got some problems because the Rays and Jays aren’t going anywhere. And the Yankees and the Yankees and your Red Sox are the best farm system in baseball. So they’re going to be back at some point eventually. So Orioles, yes. Uh Arizona absolutely should sell. You’re not going to catch the Dodgers, Giants, or Padres’s. You’re not going to get every playoff team from the NL West aside from the Rockies making it. So, they should trade AU Heno Suarez to the Seattle Mariners say, “Give me one of those pitchers. Give me Give me George Kirby. Go ahead. Give me one of those guys because Suarez right now is top three in RBI’s and in home runs. You’re not going to get Kirby. I saw you make a face.” My point is, my point is you’re going to get two months of Gino. I’ll tell you that much. No, but but Suarez is one of those guys if if somebody would to trade for him again, he’s going to give you power. He’ll give you something love. Josh Naylor, Missaga, Ontario. Love him. He should be available. Well, they should trade Zack Allen. He’s going to be a free agent, but I don’t think any of those teams sell. That’s the problem. We’re going to be looking at literally Sandy Alcantra and like the Pirates trading Bailey Falur. It’s I I’m concerned. I’m concerned. Any chance the bra we’ve been talking for whatever reason cuz Joel Sherman brought up the idea of the Braves trading Akunia and I don’t see any world in which that happens. But he put out that like the Braves should do an Akunia like a a sodto style deal with the Mariners for half the Mariners. a lot of good prospects in this system and and try I don’t see that happening but there’s also Matt Olsen there I mean there’s a few guys in Atlanta any chance they break up that nucleus no I I think Alex anthoposis has made it clear that he’s not going to trade Chris Sale first of all but as far as those guys I’m glad you bring it up Mike because it’s definitely a topic worthy of conversation Dan Odow former executive there Rockies was saying to me at some point Atlanta has to say to themselves they thought once Akunia and Strider came back they’d be off and running it has not happen. You’re not going to catch the Phillies or the Mets. And quite frankly, their offense is middling and it’s been like this for like a year plus. So eventually you have to say to yourself, Olsson’s a really good player. Maybe the Allar team. I like him a lot, but he’s not as good as Freddy Freedom. Probably should just kept Freddy. Austin is a okay player. He’s not great. Again, he’s like a 102 OPS plus. He’s all right. We thought he would have been better. Murphy a real disappointment. Aussie Alb has like a 620 OPS. He’s been terrible. So they really should do something in Atlanta, but I don’t think Alex will pull the trigger. I think he really he’s going to say to himself, well, it’s just a disappointing season. These are still good players. I wouldn’t trade a Kuna Percy. I love him. I think he’s a great great player. But to Joel’s point, Atlanta’s not going anywhere and he would fetch a massive return. There’s no question about it. But no, I don’t think Atlanta parts with some guys that they should. How’s life? How you doing, man? This is so This is so seriously this is so fun. Like, it’s fun to talk baseball and the Mariners are relevant. We got one of the games great young stars. Now, all eyes will be on Cal Raleigh, but like we all go way back. Like you and Sulky were hosting like overnight shows, you know, and we were doing It’s not overnight. How dare you? Oh, I’m sorry. Midday’s uh midday shows. The godly show. Yeah. Yeah. Come on now. Come on now. Oh, fine. Well, Sulky was hosting overnights and then he worked his way up and then didn’t have to do that stuff. He was like a big deal anchor. No, I I’m endlessly indebted to Mike Sulk. My wife just said to me, No, I just said to me, she goes, “Who are you talking to?” I said, “Mike Sulk, you won’t remember him.” I said, “But we used to do radio together at ESPN.” And I said, “He’s a great guy and he was so invaluable to my career.” She goes, “With radio?” I go, “No.” With the fact he introduced me to Nick Khan and I said, “Nick Khan changed my life.” So I said, “Mike Sulk asked me for anything. Nick Khan don’t know. He’s a legendary broadcasting agent.” And Mike said, “You should talk to this guy.” And I go, “Mike, I’m a pretty loyal guy. I got this agent, Mark Turner. He got me.” He goes, “Just have a conversation with Nick.” Within 30 seconds, I realized that I should sign with Nick Khan immediately. Nick Khan is now the WWE president, by the way, and was a rigged reason why I got to be the voice of Monday Night Raw for seven ill- fated weeks. Not Nick’s fault, my fault. But I’m always indebted to Mike that he introduced me to Nick. Why didn’t that work? What’s What happened there? I was so excited for you. You and I have had like like those things where we’ve made mistakes. I went to Boston for a year. Total disaster. Why? Uh and and a lot of it was my fault. Why? Why did that not work? What happened? So, it’s interesting. Um by the way, I have a book coming out. It’s called Caphile. It’s available August 26. Features all all my best interviews from my book. So, Robert Dairo, Margot Robbie, you know, Mhers Law, Barry Jenkins, Mark Wahberg. Hold on. Hold on. Wait. Before you get to I we were having a debate today. We got to get you involved in this. Better actor. This came up. Ben Affleck Cruz. I hope it’s not Ben Affleck. Yeah, I like him. Or uh or no. Or um or uh Samuel L. Jackson. Samuel L. Jackson. So the argument against that was Samuel Jackson’s never really carried a good movie. Never really. He’s not a lead actor, right? Pul fiction is best performance, but everyone’s great in it. It’s not like he’s carrying the movie is great and what Thurman’s great. They’re all really good. Is what movie is Jungle Fever is great, but he not a lead role. It’s a supporting role. He’s not a lead actor. You might have to say it’s Ben Affleck. Affleck can carry a movie, but Sam Jackson giving you more diversity. He’s been like in 103 movies. True. And Sam Jackson coming in 20 minutes. He’ll make a bad movie good. I don’t think Affleck can can rescue a bad movie. I think Sam Jackson could rescue a bad movie. Oh, that’s a good argument. All right. So, why didn’t it work? Why didn’t why didn’t it work for for WWE? So why’d you stake at wrestling? Um, so but the reason I’m mentioning the book is I said I wrote a chapter about the WWE experience and my editor, Mango Publishing, great people out in Miami. They said, “Hey, the book’s really good. It talks about your passion about movies, how much you love Scorsesi, Pacino, Dao, Giamati, all your guys, great interviews.” They go, “But what’s with the WWE chapter?” I go, “Real simple. I got to sell books. You guys did not give me a cash advance. And if I tell people I’m going to tell stories about WWE and Vince McMahon, people will buy that book. And they go, “But it doesn’t really fit with the books.” They go, “Tell you what we’re going to do. I’m going to post the link later tonight. You’re going to post in Seattle Sports.” Sure. And people who buy the book who pre-order will get the exclusive chapter on my WWE experience. So I’m I’m not going to duck the question, Mike. I’ll answer momentarily. But if you want the full WWE stories, I’ve got 20 pages, which you’ll love in my book coming out August 26th. Short answer to you. They said to me, because everything’s under hush hush, right? Can’t tell anybody. I think I told like five people. Like Nick was like, “You can’t tell anybody. I’m I don’t none of your kids.” All right, fine. Mom, dad, wife. He goes, “That’s it. Maybe your brother, my brother, that’s okay. Four people.” So, nobody knows about this. I’m at Wrestlemania. I’m being whisked away backstage. There was no training done. So, the first time I ever called a WWE match was the night after Wrestlemania. So, imagine Brock Huard, who’s a really smart guy, but he’s calling an NFL game and he’s never called an NFL game. He’s called college football. Well, he knows football of course if NFL player, but he’s never called it. He’s never had Eric Shanks in his ear yelling at him while he’s doing the game. So maybe would have a little prepped would have helped. Now WWE is kind of a sinker swim kind of place. Brock’s a professional just like Adam Burke is. He’ll figure it out. He’s a good broadcaster. That was the theory. Didn’t work out that way. We need a little AAA in life. Okay. Now, in fairness to them again, it was during co I have a full-time job, MLB Network. I couldn’t just leave my job for two weeks and just have Vince McBain train me again. So, I think there’s one answer. Either they should have trained me for a week or two, let me get up to speed and go, “Okay, I think you’re not bad. Work on this. Do more of this. Ready to go. Game or because maybe that’s unrealistic or longer leash, right?” Right? Say, “Hey, he’s going to kind of suck at first. Got to give this guy three months.” Right? Jason Whitten test might football. Just give him the year. If he’s not good, we’ll change him. Instead, they went seven weeks. Knockout punch first guy. Should have given me three months. Come on. Are you really a play I mean, like, you’re such a you’re such an opinionist that it’s hard and a host. It’s hard for me to think of you as like a playby-play guy. It’s kind of a different skill. Another great point, Mike. I think first off, the lack I think that’s the other reason I failed. Nailed it. I What one would be the lack of experience doing two would be the lack of play-by-play experience. Have never called wrestling at any level, unlike our buddy Adam Am college wrestling for years. I’ve called maybe five boxing fights in my life, 20 baseball games, never called hockey, never called football. I CFL couple games on the radio. So, to your point, not a play-by-play guy by heart. Tough to make a studio guy into play on play guy in this feverish intense environment with Vince K. McMahon all over me my ear. Hey, last minute or so here. Uh we have not gotten to Julio. Uh Julio makes the all-star team. Big conversation here. Big conversation nationally. Just your thoughts on Julio. Is he an all-star and is it legit? It raised me by surprise, Brock. Every year they’re going to go, “Hey, the first thing is it’s like the Oscars, right? Hey, who’s the snubs? How did SO not make it? Uh how did Springer not make it? How is Jazz Chisum on this team? Huh? Who is the most anonymous allstars? Is one of my favorite one even because even I go Randy Rodriguez of the Giants. Hm. 690. All right. Didn’t realize he was on that that good a year. Julio, I’m a little surprised, Mike. Uh Brock, I I looked at it and I go, “Okay.” Like Raleigh definitely stands out. He’s obviously superstar. Somebody else has to supplement them. I’m so happy Woo made it. Munoz has 21 saves. Absolutely deserving. I guess if I take a closer look at it, maybe I’ll I’ll talk myself into Julio being an all-star. What’s amusing to me is he’s notoriously, as you guys know, a first half slow starter. So to me, I’m like, oh, for him to make the also team, he must have really turned it around. I just watched Yandon on MLB Network, I think he was saying Julio leads in hits and runs scored. So I guess if you’re leading a playoff team in those categories, that’s notable, but I was a little surprised. Yeah, I think to to make the argument, you would need to think of a few things. Yes, he does lead in hits and in runs scored. He’s his defense has been beyond superb. He is an unbelievable defender and his running he’s not the player he was supposed to be at least so far this year but he’s been a different player that’s also good just in a very different way. I also think it’s fair to consider that a he is a star. He’s a name and that matters and carries some weight in the All-Star game. And also this is maybe crazy but I look at what he did in the second half of last year as being relevant to this year’s All-Star game. I think that every year about everyone. I think you look at the last year and what you do in August and September should matter towards your ability to be an all-star, not what you do in the first three months of the year. Who cares about that? Do what you do in the second half of the year. Yeah, it was Harold Reynolds has said for years we should have a first half all-star and a second half allstar. He’s like there are guys who end up being five time allstars and you go but they weren’t that good. They were just great in the first half. And similarly, Francisco Lindor, this is the first time he has made the all-star team as a Met. I’m not saying he’s been there for 10 years. He’s been there for a few years now. And last year he was second in MVP voting. You know, wait, he didn’t make the all-star team. Like, no, he did not. So, Frankie Lindorf finally makes it as a starting shortstop for the New York Mets. It just goes to the system is a little bit quirky. So, you’re right. By that logic, Julio overall, is he one of the games top 50 players? Yeah, he should be an all-star. All right, Adam, we got to go. We know you got to go. Thanks for spending some extra time with us. The book comes out when? August 26th, Amazon. I’ll I’ll post the link later. I’ll give you the link, Mike. Put it up in Seattle sports.com. Done and done. Done and done. You’re the best. Good to talk to you, buddy.

MLB Network Host Adnan Virk joins Brock & Salk to discuss the state of MLB in 2025, Cal Raleigh’s season, what moves the Mariners can make and more!

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0:00 – State of MLB in 2025
1:30 – The Mariners Path to the Playoffs
4:05 – Cal Raleigh’s Tremendous Value
7:55 – Which Teams will be sellers?
11:25 – Adnan’s Broadcasting Journey
16:57 – Is Julio A Deserving All Star?

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Listen to The Brock & Salk Show weekdays from 6 a.m. – 10 a.m. on Seattle Sports 710 AM or on-demand wherever you listen to podcasts.
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