Josh Naylor, Eugenio Suárez IMPACT on #Mariners | #SeattleSports

Josh Naylor, Eugenio Suárez IMPACT on #Mariners | #SeattleSports

Well, Aaron Goldmith, we love having you on. Uh especially now, man, right here in the midst of the final 49 games. I don’t know how you look at a calendar, Goldie, all your years of doing this and just kind of your rhythm throughout a baseball season, but after an off day, we get to August, we’re post trade deadline, does it start to feel a little more urgent, the light at the end of the tunnel start to show up and appear at all here in early August? Oh, yeah. There’s no doubt. I mean, I think the the way the baseball calendar is set up, it really after you come out of the All-Star break, uh especially this year, it felt like the break was so so late, uh so many games before the All-Star break. Once you come out of that week-long hibernation, it’s it’s pretty much a pedal to the metal at that point for every team, especially with a deadline that approached so quickly after after the All-Star break. So, uh, now that the Mariners now know what their team will look like for the rest of the season, I I think it is the ultimate go time for the M’s, especially where they are in the standings and trying to track down a really banged up Astros team obviously. So, yeah, it definitely feels like every game feels significantly more meaningful, even though we know it’s not mathematically, but it feels like it is now compared to two months ago. Aaron, I want to ask you about Au Heno Suarez, and I’ll I’ll kind of relate the question to what I see every day out at Seahawks camp. And, you know, they bring in a veteran guy like Demarcus Lawrence who’s been in the NFL for 11 years, and you see him pulling guys off to the side, giving him uh, you know, tips on their pass rush technique and whatnot. As it relates to Suarez, what do you think he can bring to this? I mean, we all know what he can do on the field. We’ve seen it. Uh, but what can he do in that clubhouse? Like, what can a veteran like that bring to the table? Well, the thing that makes Gino’s veteran presence so unique is that it’s already familiar in Seattle and familiar with so many of those guys in that clubhouse. And it’s not a there’s not a period, I’m sure you guys can speak to this better than I can, there’s not a period of kind of feeling it out and getting to know guys and seeing kind of what you have to offer from uh an emotional standpoint, a leadership standpoint that kind of works here and works with the staff and works with the players. And while sure there are some guys who are here now in that clubhouse who were not here the first go round with Gino. I mean by and large it’s the same cast of characters, same group of guys. And so for Gino for him coming back it’s just an immediate fit and it’s a immediate plug and play and uh move in ready so to speak from for AU Suarez. So uh there’s not a single team in baseball that doesn’t want that kind of guy in their clubhouse. And what makes it so unique is that the Mariners already know what that looks like and feels like with Gino because they’ve not only have they lived through it, they’ve lived through it into October in a playoff push just like what they’re doing right now getting into the postseason like they hope to do this season. Like they’ve been there and done that with this guy. And that part of him certainly has not changed. So it it’s so rare at the deadline for any team to find the absolute perfect guy. The guy who they can get, they can acquire. They have the the capital to actually bring into their organization who fits what they need in this case offensively in the lineup at a position defensively that that they can manage to put a new face in and that has the makeup and the personality that just seamlessly integrates with their organization. And the Mariners did that. They found the perfect guy. And I don’t know how many teams in baseball with the deadline can say that they’ve actually been able to do that. You all know the voice, the voice of Aaron Goldmith, the voice of the Seattle Mariners. What year is this for you, Goldie, here in Seattle? 13. Wow. Wow. 13th year. Have you ever sat on August the 5th and felt like this Mariners big league club was as deep as it is today on August 5th? Yeah, I don’t think so. Um I I assume you’re talking about the lineup in particular. Um, no. I I think this is especially a top six, if you want to kind of focus in there, that it can it can really bang, man. Like that’s a that’s a gauntlet of a top six. And we’ve seen what JP Crawford can do this year. This especially if he gets hot in the final couple of months or for part of the final couple of months, this this could end up being arguably his best year. only debate would be this year or two years ago for JP Crawford and he’s down there batting what batting eighth um on most days now seventh or eighth. So I I I I think it’s you’d be hardressed to find a deeper Mariners lineup in the last decade plus than what we’re looking at right now for the Mariners. It’s it’s pretty remarkable and I think the evidence of of what it can do we saw on Sunday, right? you you have a top six that any one of them can hit it over the fence at any time. And that’s exactly what the Mariners did. The game on Sunday was April baseball for the Mariners. It was draw two out walk, hit a bomb. Draw a two out walk, hit a tank. And any one of those guys, especially in the top six, you can mark down as somebody who’s a threat to leave the yard. You know, we’ve had a lot of conversation with you over the course of the season and and I love listening to you and in kind of the nuanced ways at times where maybe Dan made some decisions early in the year like, huh, that’s outside the box just a little bit. Do you feel like throughund and something games now that Dan also has settled into this role of knowing his team, knowing how he wants to play, knowing, you know, um, in in in critical moments? And I could think really over the last month or so a bunch of times managing the bullpen in a way where it was like wow, you know, like a blackjack hand that worked and that worked and and that kind of found a way to work. Do you feel like Dan is also settling in here as we get to the home drive of the season? Yeah, for sure. And I think you you would expect that to be the case, right? He’s not a rookie manager. He did manage uh what a couple of months last year, but it’s a it’s a whole another it’s a whole another deal when you are doing the whole thing for the first time through. You’re going through the offseason through spring training, all the meetings, all the planning, your first opening day. We all get the point. Add to that, I don’t think there’s a more difficult time to manage, especially a bullpen, than April and into May. You don’t know who’s hot. You don’t know who’s right. uh you you’re trying to kind of figure out, well, okay, this guy ended September last year as one of our best relievers. Is he starting this year as one of our best relievers? You know, Muno’s company aside. Um and so you’re kind of having to manage through that and learn who’s right, who’s not, who needs to get back on track, and who’s ready for a more leverage situation right now. And then as the season settles in and as the duration of the year starts to kick in, all of a sudden now the length of the schedule starts to play out and you’re like, “Oh yeah, okay. This guy is back to what we think he should be.” And also, I mean, just the in-game strategy of it. We saw Dan in like the Red Series stands out, which was in what, maybe early to mid May, so relatively early in the season. You know, Dan was more reluctant to pinch hit earlyish in games. And by earlyish, I mean more like sixth, seventh inning when you had maybe a chance here to pop one over the fence and take the lead or plug the gap and tie the game or take the lead. And he pretty quickly thereafter started going to his bench in those situations for pinch it opportunities more aggressively. So he’s kind of started to kind of feel his rhythm out and how he wants to game plan. Uh, so just like a young player, just like a Cole Young, as you see his growth from his call up until now, I I think it’s only right and fair to expect that the manager would be the same way. And it’s not a surprise that that’s exactly what’s happened for Dan. Let’s talk about that bullpen that you just mentioned, Goldie. Uh, we heard from Jeff Passen, that they made, sounds like they made a pretty uh, serious run at uh, John Durant uh, before the Phillies got him. What do you think about uh, what they do have in their bullpen right now? Yeah, I think for for as much as the Mariners knocked it out of the park at the deadline and it’s tough to not give them an A for what they did, I don’t think there’s any doubt that the Mariners would have loved to have had another high leverage reliever, whether that’s Munoz 2.0 or Brash 2.0, right? More of an eighth inning guy. Um, but we have seen the fruits already of having a second lefty and Caleb Ferguson. You know, the Mariners are in a spot where can they find a way to get Carlos Vargas back to the Carlos Vargas we saw in I don’t know what that was back half of May, June, somewhere along that line. Um because if you can if you can find yourself with more than four guys that you really trust in a in a high leverage spot. And to Vargas’ credit, by the way, I know he gave up the run on Sunday, but he he worked multiple really big innings for the Mariners and kept it close and was able to bridge the gap to Munoz on a day where the Mariners were down three relievers, three key relievers. But if you if you can have Munoz and Brash as your automatic backend, you know that you have Spire, who you you can face righties with, but he’s obviously a death march for a lefty, right? Uh, Bazardo has kind of taken over into a a leverage position for the Mariners these days, which has been nice to see. Uh, he is really, speaking of growth, I mean, he is grown a ton since the beginning of the season, it’s been pretty amazing. And and that’s what you need, right? You need a guy like that to pop. Um, if you can find a way to kind of get Vargas back into that fold where you can have him pitching leverage innings in the seventh if need be, the Mariners can have, you know, a back four plus Ferguson who you can match up with a lefty and save Spire for a seventh inning lefty or an eighth inning lefty as opposed to having to burn Spire in the sixth. Right. I mean, that’s that’s why Ferguson’s addition is so big for the Mariners. What does an August off day for Goldie look like compared to an April or May off day? And maybe not just for Goldie, what about Gary? What about Ricky? What about the Mariners guys? Titus asked me that yesterday. He’s like, “What do what do the guys do on an August off day?” Uh, well, Gary is enjoying the clouds at Canon Beach right now. So, Gary’s got a little time off. A little August time off. He’s got four days off now with you out there yesterday. So, for forget that guy. Um, yesterday should have been a paddle board day, but I did not time up our 90 minutes of sunlight to uh to get that perfect. So, I I hung out a little bit with Hyphen yesterday. He had the Brian Woo pitching camp in Belleview. So, took took my oldest over there. So, my 10-year-old’s now throwing 96 with a low slot, which is pretty sick. Love that. Um, love it. Uh, thank you, hyphen. Thank you, Brian. Woo, as well. Uh, no Costco yesterday. Cleaned the garage a little bit. Mowed the yard. Did a double mow in the backyard. It was so long from uh the baseball schedule making me ignore it. So I had to mow it once then drop the deck and mow it twice. I don’t know who else has been there this summer. Yeah boy. So lawn’s looking amazing. Um you know. So you’re telling me that hyphen you’re telling me that hyphen on on Brian Woo’s off day before he’s going to start pulls Woo out to his camp? How selfish of hyphen to do like take care of your camp yourself. Let Woo have an off day before he’s got to go take the ball today. What’s up with that? You know, I was thinking I was like I was like, man, Brian Brian’s got to be a little tired, right? 17 in a row and coming out here. And then I thought I I remember we had a shot of the dugout on Sunday and Brian was just like chilling with his sunglasses on spitting seeds. True. Like m maybe Brian’s okay. Yeah. A little different from pitchers. Yeah, probably maybe Brian’s okay, you know. So, hey, uh, one thing I love and Aaron Goldmith here with us for a few more minutes. One thing I love about you is digging into the numbers the way that you guys all do, you and Rick and Gary, the whole the whole crew do an awesome job with that is you’ve dug into the numbers. Can you help me understand in any way, and maybe it’s just baseball, Goldie, but can you help me understand how and why this club has been so good against winning teams, dominant pitchers, ace pitchers, and then I think finds itself right about 500 against these sub 500 teams, beginning with the White Socks tonight. Can you make any sense of that at all? No, I cannot. And there’s there I don’t think there’s a set of numbers that can explain that. And it might just be I I learned a long time ago that sometimes in baseball things just are what they are and there’s not a reason for it. Like it’s we we because we have so many ways to quantify things in this game. We often try to search every nook and cranny to explain a reason for why. And I’ve looked really dumb over the years trying to present a case for something that just it just is. And there’s not there isn’t evidence for reason why. Maybe it’s a psychological thing. Maybe it’s not. like maybe it just is what it is. And I I mean the glass half full is the Mariners have played really well against winning teams obviously and I mean I would I would uh answer your question with a question of last year like why did the Mariners do you remember this stretch of time for the M’s where they would get shut out or held to a run for seven innings and then when Ryan Presley and Josh her would pitch they’d score three runs and win the game. Right. Right. Like I I don’t I don’t know. The Mariners for a long stretch last year were the worst team in baseball. Like the worst by average on base slug in lowle leverage situations and were the best team. I mean the best team in high leverage situations and I don’t know I don’t know if you can explain it. It just is. So as much as much as we know Gino and to your answer earlier with Brady about you know the neat thing here is hey man there is tremendous familiarity we are all learning uh Josh Naylor and we the Mariners competed against him the guys know him certainly guys on the field have grinded against him through the minors and into the majors and everything else. What are you getting to know about that new addition at first base? Yeah, so we’ve had a chance to talk with him twice. He’s held two media sessions. uh one when he first arrived and the other before his home debut on this home stand. And it’s it’s really interesting talking to him because we all know how he comes across of just like stone cold killer man. Like no emotion, no smile, just staring through you, daggers, just I want to win. I want to eat you for lunch type of guy. And then when you start asking him some questions, he is remarkably thoughtful and yet kind of like our last discussion here, if he doesn’t have an answer for something, he’ll just tell you like he’s not going to try to make something up to try to make himself sound smart. Like there is there is a lot of Zack Grankkey to him. Like I asked him before his home debut, I said, “Have you ever in this brief period of time, a week with the ball club, even as an established veteran who’s had great success in this game, have you found yourself yet maybe trying to extend too much, do too much, swing too hard, because like you know the stakes here, you know that they went out and got you for a reason. Like have you found yourself feeling that way at all?” And he said, “No, I I know that if I do good, then that’s great. And if I do bad, then I’ll just come back tomorrow and try to do good again.” That was it. That was the answer. And it’s like, “Yeah, I get it. I get that, man.” Like, you’ve had a million at bats in the big leagues and you know, you know the the luck, the circumstance of each one of them, right? and like you’re you’re gonna you’re going to ground out, you’re going to pop up, you’re going to fly out to the warning track, and you’re also going to hit home runs, and it’s all part of the bag, and you just got to wake up tomorrow and do it again. So, uh, he’s he’s a remarkably thoughtful player, and when we’ve heard we heard Marseay talk about this, we heard Dan Wilson talk about this, uh, we heard the Mariners in their scouting of him and talking to other people around baseball, they all have said the same thing. They’ve all said, “Really smart player.” And he comes across that way. both when you talk to him and also when you watch him play. You know what I love that too about these additions cuz Gino’s right the funloving good vibes everybody loves them and then you know what a little fun healthy not even friction but just like uh intensity you know just the ying and the yang between the first and the third and oh gosh it’s just uh I think a tremendous a tremendous mix. Hey, last couple minutes here just how do you and I know baseball always has a way of just working itself out but how do you see this working with Bryce Miller had an unbelievable outing as passing said touch 98 down in Tacoma over the weekend through just strike after strike after strike. He said he felt great afterwards. How can you kind of lay out his return in the next what week? Do you have any rumblings about that at all? Well, there’s no doubt that I mean the Mariners will insert him back into the rotation as soon as possible, right? This was a guy who was one of truly the most dominant starting pitchers in the second half of last season. And not just the second half, he was just one of the best starting pitchers in baseball last year. The question will be like, how does it feel, right? How does your elbow feel? Can is the pain gone enough? Do you have life on the ball? Do you have command of the ball? Do you look like Bryce Miller again? So, it’s like what does it look like and how does it feel? Those are the questions, right? You you would expect him him back before Rob, right? Ro still weeks away. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, roleplay is from from all estimation and I and understandably so, I think the marriage are kind of hesitant to put a exact day and hour on it, but like September September, could that be September 1st? Could it be September 30th? I don’t know. But September, um, somewhere in between more than likely. But for Bryce, like everything that they will do to make him a starting pitcher again this season, they will do. If that can’t happen for any of the reasons we just described, how it looks or how it feels, and trying to go five, six, seven innings isn’t in the cards, my guess would be he’d be a pretty darn good reliever for an inning a couple of times a week, you know, and that makes your bullpin better. So, they their number one goal is how can we have Bryce Miller impact a Mariners game, preferably strongly prefer that to be in the rotation. And if not, can we make that work for a month and change almost two months out of the out of the bullpen? But it’ll be the priority is without a doubt to get him back in the starting mix.

Brock Huard and Brady Henderson (in for Mike Salk) are joined by Mariners broadcaster Aaron Goldsmith to discuss the state of the team following additions from the trade deadline and the future of the M’s pitching.

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0:00 – Urgency beginning for Mariners?
1:15 – Eugenio Suárez’s return
3:38 – Where M’s stand on August 5th
5:20 – How Dan Wilson has settled in
8:08 – State of Mariners bullpen
10:30 – Off-days in August
12:30 – Numbers behind M’s vs ace pitchers
14:30 – Josh Naylor
17:20 – Bryce Miller’s future

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