Jon Morosi on Why The #Mariners “Have A Lot Of Work To Do.” This Offseason | #SeattleSports
He is with us to put a smile on everybody’s face. And we could all use that, couldn’t we? He’s with us on the Emerald Queen Casino Sportsbook Hotline. Our buddy, our pal John Morosei is here with us. How are you, man? Rob and Dave, I’m doing great. Wonderful to hear your voices as always. It is uh it is a lovely time of year and I know um it’s still very fresh the way that the ALCS ended, but uh what a great month of baseball in Seattle and certainly I know from talking to a lot of reporters who had a chance to spend time there in your great city during the month. It was a a great run and one that I think opened the eyes of a lot of people to what an amazing baseball city, what amazing city overall Seattle is. Yeah. Hey, take us back to uh I want to get a full rundown on what you experienced sitting next to Bob Stelt during the uh during the playoffs. I I didn’t get a chance. I I was on the road going to Jacksonville. Did you get injured, JP? No. Well, well, here’s here’s the thing. Bob Bob is, as you know, not a small guy. Okay. And so like like like when when he grabs your arm, I mean I’m I am kind of a a a fairly small and statured person. So when when when Bob would like grab my arm when a big moment was happening, I I’d almost like have to go like flag down a medic to make sure I was okay and maybe put me in the put me put me in the tent, you know, like the guys in the football games. I almost had to get sent to the tent a couple times when uh when when Bob got when Bob got excited. But that’s just Bob represents the passion of the fans you’ve got in your great city. And uh and yeah, so there was there were a lot of things where uh things that would happen in the game and I would say h I’m actually okay with that call or I I don’t there were a couple times where I don’t have that big of an issue with Dan Wilson’s bullpen management. It was like really Mosi, it’s really it’s okay. It’s it’s it’s okay. It’s okay. and and obviously uh two great series that that we can and that’s that’s playoff baseball. You you can second guess I mean uh three days ago John Schneider was the most second guessed person in North America uh after the way that the Jays lost game three and that and now he’s a genius. That’s just that’s how that’s how the business goes. And the Mariners, I think the the way the the playoffs have unfolded, the way the the World Series unfolded, I think affirms just how close they were and how close they still can be, uh, if if they make the right moves this winter to to getting right back to where they were this month and maybe even a step or two further. But, uh, it was a fun month and just I I got to say, I mean, the the the response of the fans in Seattle and the and the the noise, the ballpark, the passion there was just was an incredible atmosphere that, you know, I I still think about what it sounded like for the Suarez homer. And that was that was a pretty cool moment that I’m uh not going to forget. Well, in in all seriousness, one of the coolest things outside of the Mariners being eight outs away from the World Series was sitting next to Morose and having him do the show with us on a number of days and just, as I like to do, Dave, pepper him with questions and and what do you think of this and what happened in this inning? Here’s the spot in the order. Should they make the change here? And and just John is is incredibly gracious and I could I could just bend his ear about baseball for hours. you and unfortunately you and Ryan Roland Smith had to tolerate me throughout the postseason because I got that was fun man. I mean, and that’s and again, and it’s it’s important, too, and and and I mean this with all sincerity, like where you know, sometimes when you cover a team or or you cover the sport from a certain angle, it’s it’s really important that when you have a a panel discussion um and and you you guys do such a great show every week and and all the work and the thought that Mike puts into to the guests and the format and everything, it’s it’s important to have different perspectives. And obviously the way I view the game is not the same way that that that the two of you view it or the way that Ryan does. And it’s that’s why you have to have and and Charlie Furbush does such a great job too. You have to have the different perspectives because there are things that will that will come up to to your mind that you’ll ask about say you know what that’s a really good question and I got to follow it up and check on it with sources and see because it it’s not as though anybody any observer no matter what network he works for none of us had this thing figured out. So you get you got to come at it from that angle and say I want to learn. I want to ask better questions. I want to figure out what the fans really have to say and what’s on their mind because that’s how we all arrive at a little a little different understanding. And and I think too the I hope one piece of the whole puzzle for for fans and for everybody is is the really great managers. And I think that Dan Wilson is on his way to becoming one of those and and may already be that. But I think for for Dan and for anybody, John Schneider, Dave Roberts, it’s it’s important to separate the process from the result. You might put a reliever in and he was the right call and you had the right scouting important and his slider was the right profile against that particular left-hander and he and and the pitch was called. It was it was the right pitch to call, but he misses it by six inches and he hangs it and it’s a home run and the game’s over. It was still the right decision, just not the right execution. And that’s that’s why this game is so much fun to talk about because you can’t like I love hockey, too, but it’s really hard to to to have a similar second-guessable moment in hockey. We just it’s too random of a sport in a beautiful way. And that’s why baseball we we could have this conversation. We could we could open up this phone conversation in February and we could still go back and recite some of the the big moments and the big steps on the positive side and the negative side for the Mariners for the month of October and we will still remember them in four months and that’s just not something that really happened in other sports. Yeah. what the the point you brought up about making the right decision doesn’t mean the result is always going to be the right one or the and and and and no better example of that was something Dave always brings up and it’s it’s still hard for listeners to hear but you know bringing up the Super Bowl that the the Seahawks lost and the interception that was thrown by Russell Wilson and that play and why didn’t you hand it off to Marshon Lynch you big dummies you don’t know anything you should have and Dave is is to his credit has dug his heels in from that day as painful as it was saying that was the right call that was the play call. It was maybe you could have used different guys. Maybe you could argue personnel, but based on what they were facing, it was the right call and nobody wants to hear it because of the results. So, I totally understand what you’re saying there. But I I’m I’m I’m curious on another note in in watching this series with with the Blue Jays and the Dodgers and I and I was reading this uh ESPN article where they were talking about if you remove what the Dodgers did against the Reds where they they did have some some big offensive nights there. They have hit just .224 with a 372 slug in the postseason and they are hitting 201 against the Blue Jays over five games and hitting just 200 without a single extra base hit with runners in scoring position. That sounds a lot like what we were talking about with the Mariners and you know this lineup’s dead and look at all these other teams and that’s arguably the best lineup money can buy in baseball and they are having the same problems that the Mariners had. So, to me, it made me feel a little bit better that all right, look at all the investments they’ve made and their payroll and they’re they’re going through the same conversations and the same lack of production with runners in scoring position that the Mariners did throughout the postseason. So, I guess a lesson is Yeah, you could spend the money and maybe it gets you more bites at the apple, more cracks at it, more trips to the postseason in the World Series, but it it guarantees you nothing. That’s right. And I I think the number one thing that stands out to me is it has never been harder to hit than it is right now. And that’s and that’s that’s the truth. The hitters that we’re talking about are well-trained guys. Showway is going to the Hall of Fame. Mookie is going to the Hall of Fame. Freddy’s going to the Hall of Fame. Will Smith might go to Hall of Fame, too. Um and so you start talking about half your lineup is Hall of Famers and and it promises you nothing. And I’ve I’ve covered enough October to know and I’ve read enough newspapers in enough cities over the years to know that what you’re describing the lament of we just stopped hitting at the absolute wrong worst time. That is what is said in a great many places. Uh maybe not every single one, but in most of them that is the lament when the final page of the season is written. And so the Mariners are in good company. with basically every every other great team but one every year has the same has the same feeling. I think the the part that the Mariners are going to need to confront, I believe, is is twofold. Number one, you have a lot of work to do to just get back to being as good of a team as you were this year, which by definition did not end up being good enough. And by that I mean Naylor’s a free agent, Suarez is a free agent. So your your basically two of your big guys in the middle lineup right now are not not on your roster. Okay. That’s number one. And Palano which has he has a player option. Exactly. Which I I would say there’s a very good chance he’s going to exercise that become a free agent. So So a third of your roster including a guy in Palano that was I and Naylor too. I mean when I I think I mentioned last week when I was voting I and and game seven was going on. I said if the Mariners win, Naylor’s my vote to be the MVP. So he’s he was that important to them in the LCS. And so when you look at it, you’ve got a lot of work to do to just get back to being that good. The second like 1B question is okay, but do we need to pivot a little bit and get a little bit of a different type of a hitter in here? And and I’m not sure exactly what what kind of hitter that is when you really look at it, but the the type of hitters that can perhaps string together the kind of rallies that we’re seeing from the Blue Jays because they’ve done it again. They they in game one of the World Series, it was the same story. Here come the Blue Jays again. They’re they’re starting a rally with some of your lesser known names. They’re flipping the lineup over. Glatty has some damage and here they go again. And so it it in some ways is difficult to to replicate what the Jays have been able to do. Uh they’ve got an excellent hitting coach in David Hopkins. Obviously the Mariners have that as well. Um and but that’s that to me is the question. You have you’re going have to spend a bunch of money to get back to being as good as you as you were. But the other part is but do we really have to do that? And is that really in our best interest or are there guys in this system? is is Emerson that close that you can start thinking about him? Um what can Young do next year with with more playing time? That that is I think one of the biggest questions and I’m sure right now the Mariners um job one is knowing your own personnel, what they can do for you in 2026 because if they have any kind of question about the readiness of the kids, they better be really aggressive in free agency. Maybe they’re aggressive even looking at uh the international market that two really good players come two really good hitters, offensive players from from Japan, Okamoto and Murakami. Okamoto’s a righty, Murakami is a lefty. They both play first and third. So, I mean, they fit this roster. And when you consider the rich heritage of Japanese players for the Mariners, you start thinking about maybe maybe the time is right if you can’t bring Naylor back and if you can’t bring Gino back, um maybe maybe the time is right to make a really big play uh to get back into into the Japanese player market and and really change your lineup that way. JP, if the pitching, excuse me, this year would have been as good as it was last year in 2024. I mean, I I have no doubt that they that they win the World Series, but how do you view the the pitching situation this year? Because last year in all different there was what five or six categories, they were number one and and it’s not like they were in the bottom third or anything this year, but it was it was disappointing. And I think more than anything it was about injury, but how how did you view at the end of the year, you know, the the performance? Did you did you kind of chalk it up to well, they just weren’t healthy or were there other problems? Because we’ve been talking about what they need to do um for for next year. Yeah. I mean, I’ll say this. I think with the Mariners rotation, it is still a strength of this team. if you there might be maybe the Dodgers would say that they would rather have their their group of five or or seven starters than than what the Mariners have, but especially when you start factoring in who’s going to be a free agent. So, yes, the Blue Jays like like their mix right now, but they also have Sherzer as a free agent and and so is Bieber. And so, basically half of your World Series rotation is gone when when the season is over. What I think with the Mariners is they will likely be in a situation where they’re where they could trade one of their starters. This might be the time and it’s it’s not your first choice, but but trading one to get the bat you need might be the might be an appropriate step because as we speak right now under contract for next year, there was a report from Adam Jude in the Times that that Miller is not expected to need surgery. So if that’s the case, you’ve got Castillo, Woo, Gilbert, Kirby, Miller, Hancock, Evans. You’ve got seven seven guys that you believe can start major league games for you ideally in 2026. And there are very very few teams that can say the same thing. And so, so for me, and who knows, by the way, like the way Hancock pitched out the bullpen, I kind of like the way that looked. I I think he’s still ideally a starting pitcher, but that that was interesting for me. I mean, to see what he could do. know if I if I’m the Mariners, I not as a first step, if I have the budget to go after free agent position players and and make a real play for a for a Murakami or an Okamoto or or you bring back Naylor, whatever it might be. And then as a secondary option, I think you then look at the potential of moving one of your starters. And if you do it the right way at the right time, usually that’s around the winter meetings. I would say if you get much past the winter meetings, it can be hard to get full value because other teams are starting to fill their needs. If if I’m if I’m Jerry Deoto and Justin Hollander at the GM meetings in a couple weeks, I am mentioning the names. I’m not shopping the players. I mean, there’s always that distinction is always kind of funny to me, but but I am pricing it out. What do we do? And who has some bats they can give me and who is really desperate for the pitching that I’ve got? I I mean, if anything, I know it wasn’t perfect by the end, uh, Dave and Bob, but I I think by and large, the Mariners had this year and still have about as much pitching depth as any team does at the major league level. Yeah. And it’s going to be interesting to see if they feel like, hey, we need to add depth or if they think they’ve got a Trey Savage in their in their system, Kate Anderson, somebody like that, they’re going to make their way, you know, all of a sudden that’s going to be the new story. here’s a young guy in single A who can be an impact player for the big club and it’s that’s a rarity but you know we’ll see look I mean Brian Woo and and Bryce Miller did not spend much time in the minor leagues at all before they came up here and had an impact so Mariners have experienced that themselves but I’m curious what you two things bullpen I think I think we forget about that I think that’s going to be a big need going into this off season and then just second overall philosophy if if if I’m wondering if the Mariners ers and I was saying this the other day, John, that I hope they learned their lesson from 2022. And this is for ownership. I hope you learned when you had the city in the palm of your hand. You had the excitement, you had the buyin from the fans, you finally broke the curse, you got to the postseason, and they followed it up with a just a dreadful off season of AJ Pollock and Colton Wong and that whole mess, and they were bargain shopping. I hope that that is a lesson learned. I hope they they I I don’t have any idea how much money they made from being in the postseason this year, but I’ve got to imagine it’s fairly substantial. And they looked at that and then also looked at the story you and I talked about, we’ve talked about a million times that by all accounts, the Mariners have already made their money back on what they’ve yet to truly invest in show Otani, $700 million. He’s deferred all of that for the most part. They haven’t even paid him that yet. They’ve already made all of that money back and then some. So that in that type of investment while painful and and and uncomfortable can can really do a lot for your team financially and obviously putting them in a great position to win. What do you what’s your level of belief or faith that maybe they learned from 2022 and said we were eight outs away. We’re not going to let this opportunity slip through our fingers again. I I think that you’re spot on uh that that there was an opportunity missed in 2223. They made it a lot further this time. It it felt it all felt a lot more real and and I think that it’s it’s that’s why being a a president of baseball operations or a GM is such a challenging job because on some level you have to be dispassionate and say, “Okay, I have to make the right decision for the organization near-term and long-term, all the executive speak that we’ve heard for years.” But the other side is the the part that you spoke to, which is the emotional side. You cannot pretend like this is just any generic offseason in which you finished third in the AL West and and and there wasn’t anything significant that happened. You you got to game seven. You had a lead late in a potential clinching game and and I remember well what it was like in Boston in the winter of 0304 after Aaron Boone walked them off in game seven. Um I was in college. I was living there. So I I lived it every day. I read the paper every day. It was it was constant for 4 months and that was they almost traded for A-Rod. That was that insane winter and and I I remembered what that felt like in that city. And that’s honestly if Seattle fans should and I’m sure do feel that way. It’s it was that close and you can’t and and the Red Sox at that time did not treat it like any other offseason. They went out there, they traded for Schilling, they signed Keith Pole, they made a lot of different moves. the Mariners should do a similar thing. And and I I think you’re right on about the bullpen piece. Uh I’ll be really curious to see guys like someone like a Devin Williams who a year ago was as elite as it was in in this in this sport and then he goes and struggles a bit in LA. He’s still a free agent. He’s still a really good pitcher, different environment. I I I think you cannot have too many quality relievers and and Munoz has been amazing. There’s certainly an argument um that maybe this is a time to sort of respect his place in the core and and extend him in a similar way that you have other guys. He’s been that important to them, but also relievers are volatile and and you need to I think insulate him a little bit after all the pitches he threw. It’s it’s hard to get to the end of October and expect your closer to be just that good, just that sharp in April the next year. You get the best version out of Munoz if you bring in somebody else. And the and the other piece that I would say and and by the way I mean I’m like a Devin Williams I think like a co-closer situation or or someone that up in that same level that same tier Robert Suarez with the with the Padres those types of guys why not that was that was a weakness of your team. The final point about about the conversation about Otani you’re right monetizing globally has never been easier to do. It’s never been more important. And and the Mariners, just think about this, guys, they already have all of the infrastructure to help Japanese players come to Seattle and become legends. So, if if you’re ever going to make the the pitch to Murakami and Okamoto, get number 51 on the phone, have him be a recruiter, and make that a reality for these for these players that are potentially coming over this winter time. John, you’re the best, man. You we always appreciate your insight, and we look forward to it again next week. Thanks as always. Looking forward to it, guys. All the best. Really enjoyed the conversation. Thank you so much.
Jon Morosi of MLB Network joins Mike Lefko (in for Bob Stelton) and Dave Wyman (Wyman & Bob) to preview the most important moves the Mariners can make this offseason.
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0:00 – Why Playoff Baseball in Seattle was great
4:30 – What makes a good postseason manager.
8:00 – Why the Mariners have a lot of work to do this offseason
11:45 – Will the Mariners trade a starter?
15:50 – Mariners bullpen needs and offseason approach
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Listen to The Wyman & Bob Show weekdays from 2 p.m. – 7 p.m. live on Seattle Sports 710 AM and the Seattle Sports App, or on-demand wherever you listen to podcasts.
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https://sports.mynorthwest.com/category/wyman-and-bob/
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https://sports.mynorthwest.com/mlb/seattle-mariners
1 comment
Sorry, Dan Wilson did not make the right decision. The heart of the Blue Jays order with runners on required going to Munoz. I do not care if it was the 7th inning. Going to Munoz was the right call.