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Chuck in the Morning 9/16 H3: Mirror Mirror & Tons of Dipoto Talk · Chuck in the Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Great to have you with us here on this hump day.
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Chuck Anders and Travis with you as we roll into
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: our third hour. And this is a feature that we've
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: rolled out a couple of times. I'm getting ready to
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: commit to it on a weekly basis here on this show.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: And the segment is called Mirror Mirror. And that's where
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: I claim. That's where I vow to be the fairest
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: of them all. And not like Snow White sexy or
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: anything like that. I'm talking about I'm just going to
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: be just. I'm going to be fair. I'm going to
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: make a statement. might be controversial, and I'm going to
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: allow you to pick it apart. And we're going to go.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: through your complaints, your objections, one at a time here
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: in a moment. But I'm going to start it off
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: by just saying, I'm going to read this from Buster
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Olney just this morning, and I think this sums it
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: up really well here. Seattle's odds for making the playoffs
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: stand at 1.9%, and with the team nearing the end
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: of what has been a wildly disappointing season, there are
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: a lot of industry tremors that suggest major changes possible
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: at the top of the front office. It'll be up
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: to Mariners owner John Stanton, who is generally viewed as
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: more patient than reactionary. Jerry DiPoto has been the Mariners'
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: head of baseball operations for 11 seasons, and in that
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: time they have reached the postseason twice, advancing to the
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: American League Championship Series just last fall. It's also regarded
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: as a fait accompli, barring a crazy run to the postseason,
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: which isn't going that Dan Wilson's tenure as Seattle's manager
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: will end. If ownership decides to fire DePoto, his job
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: will immediately become one of the most coveted in the industry,
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: and largely because of DePoto's work. I believe all of that.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: I believe every word of that from Buster Olney, and
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: it's part of what I've tried to say in the past,
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: that I think managers are going to line up down
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: the street to have this roster, and I think that
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: front office GMs would love, Jim Bowden, I guarantee you,
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: would love to come in here and take all of
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: this goodness and then put their own touch on it,
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: put it over the top, and then take credit for
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: something that has already been 90% built. And so that's
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: why I have said all along that I would keep Jerry.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: I think there are more good things than bad things
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: about Jerry. I think he and Justin built a roster
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: worthy of the World Series this year, and somehow we
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: finished 10, what's it going to be, 12 games under.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: 500 this baseball season. I not only think that this
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: is a wildly disappointing season, What did Joe Sheehan say?
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: The most disappointing season in a century by any major
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: league baseball team? This century. Yes, yes. So since the
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: turn of the century. Yes, yes. Still a pretty large
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: sloth of time. I think this is beyond disappointing. I
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: think this season has been an absolute embarrassment for the
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: Seattle Mariners organization. It could have been so much more successful.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: But even with my well-known defenses of Jerry DiPoto here
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: on this radio station... I think he's absolutely got his
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: head on the chopping block. And I think there are
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: many good arguments for getting rid of him. And you
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: already know I would have gotten rid of Dan Wilson
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: at the All-Star break. So we don't need to repeat that.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: But this is Mirror Mirror. I'm going to allow you
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: the opportunity to weigh in on this. I want to
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: try to take your arguments one at a time, and
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: then I am going to be the fairest of them
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: all in reacting. And then Anders will judge whether or
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: not I'm being fair or not. Let's go to our talkbacks.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: They have lined up like train tracks on a rail.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: Let's get our first one in here, Travis.
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: What's up, Jeff? I can't take it anymore. I don't
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: care that the farm system is rated high. I don't
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: care that he's good at evaluating pitching talent. I care
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: about wins and playoffs and a trip to the World Series.
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: And DeBoto has no freaking clue how to do that,
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: how to put together a roster that can have success
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: in October.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: Fire him now. All right. Let me pick a few
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: things apart about that. I will say that if you're
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: saying wins, you care about wins. He has won. He's
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: now won championships, and that is an issue. But seven
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: of the 11 seasons that he's been in charge, they've
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: had a winning season. Five years in a row, they
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: were alive and in the running for the playoffs all
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: the way into the last weekend of the year. Jerry
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: DiPoto has given you a winner. You've never had an
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: 11-year stretch of time in Mariner history where where the
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: team has won more consistently than they have in the
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: last 11 years under Jerry DiPoto. So I don't think
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: that that's a worthy argument, but does he know how
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: to win a championship? Does he know how to put
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: you over the top? Obviously not. We've not gotten to
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: the World Series, we've not won the World Series, and
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: we haven't punched that ticket to the playoffs nearly as
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: often as what the talent suggests. So where is the disconnect?
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: Is it in the people that he hires, or is
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: it in the roster that he puts together? I don't
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: think the problem has been roster construction the last six years.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: I think that this roster construction should have made the
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: playoffs five times in the last six years, including this year,
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: but I think there is definitely something wrong disconnected between
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: them going the rest of the way, finishing the job and, and,
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: and actually having seasons that live up to their talent.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: And that's something that maybe we'll discuss as the segment
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: goes along.
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that's definitely, um, a fair, uh, assumption.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: It's all I'm trying to be.
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's all you're trying to be, the fairest of
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: them all. Yeah, and I think I did see that
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: there's only been like three or four teams in the last,
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: since 2021 that have more wins in the regular season
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: than the Seattle Mariners. So they've been one of the
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: more consistently competitive teams in Major League Baseball. Now, competitive,
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: it depends on if competitive is good enough for you.
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: No, it's not.
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's kind of the other side of it, right?
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: So Taking that next step would be, I think, something
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: that is a fair criticism for Jerry DePoto.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think there are monster questions about whether or
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: not he knows what it takes to get you all
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: the way. And it used to be with his final decisions,
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: which we'll get into as the segment goes along. Again,
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: I'm asking for one at a time. Don't give me
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: a mountain of evidence, and I won't use a mountain
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: of evidence myself.
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: We'll take it one at a time.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: So let's go one at a time. Let's get our
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: next talk back on there.
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: Since 2015, the Seattle Mariners have a combined regular season
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: record of 937 wins and 895 losses, giving them a
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: 5-11 winning percentage. Does it even matter that I add
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: postseason records for only two seasons?
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: No, it's still a 5-11 win percentage.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: Below 54%.
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: Fire sale.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: Well... If you're saying fire sale in terms of the
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: front office, fine. If you're saying fire sale with the roster,
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: you're out of your mind. You are simply out of
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: your mind. If you want to start a rebuild again,
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: this community that was ready to jump off of window
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: ledges when they decided to go with a rebuild at
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: the exact time they should have gone with a rebuild,
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: you are out of your mind if you want to
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: abandon this roster that he's put together as Buster Olney
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: just put. Now, if you're saying fire sale on everything
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: from the top managers, coaches, okay, I think that's in
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: play after an embarrassing season like this. And yes, the 54%
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: statement was one of the dumbest statements ever made in
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: the history of sports press conferences, and he will never,
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: ever live it down. And so, yeah, you've not even
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: reached 54% in this stretch of time. And I think
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: that he has to wear that. And if you're not
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: even going to reach 54%, then you've earned the standard
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: that you've set for yourself when you do not reach it.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: And so I think that that is a worthy criticism
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: of him.
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I actually think 5-11 in a 10-year period, especially
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: when three of those years you were admittedly going through
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: a rebuild. is not awful. It's not great, but... It's
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: better than most.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: Exactly. Like I said in the previous statement, seven out
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: of 11 winning seasons, that's the best success rate you've
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: had in franchise history.
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's very similar that we talked about the
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: last time. Consistently competitive, yes. Taking the next step. That's
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: a big question.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: All right, next one.
• 9:00
  Speaker 5: Well, congratulations. Apparently mediocrity has a mission statement now. Managers change.
• 9:08
  Speaker 5: Coaches change. Players change. The offense still disappears. Come on.
• 9:14
  Speaker 5: There's only one card in this wheel that hasn't changed.
• 9:17
  Speaker 5: Jared DePoto. You've had your decade. You built it.
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: You own it.
• 9:22
  Speaker 5: Stop rearranging the deck chairs. Fire Jared DePoto.
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: Come on.
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: I like the accent.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: I think he was Mario Bailey. A little bit, yeah.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: He was doing a Mario Bailey impression. I was thinking
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: about that. I don't think you needed a voice with that.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: That was a pretty good take. Well done. That was
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: a hot take on there. How do I respond to that?
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: So the thing I take from that is the length.
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: It's been, like, he's had a long enough time, and
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: it hasn't bared enough fruit. So that's what I take
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: from that, and that's kind of where I'll set it
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: up for you.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: Yes. I do think people get it a little bit twisted, though.
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: When he took over, he took over a veteran team
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: and he tried to win with it. And when he
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: realized we're moving further away from the stated goal, then
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: he went with a rebuild. Then we knowingly had to
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: go through a rebuilding process, which usually for middle market
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: to small market teams takes three to five years in baseball.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: The Astros took five. And look what they did. We
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: were winning by the second year. Like, shouldn't have been.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: should have racked up a couple of really high draft
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: picks in that process. Instead, we were competitive by the
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: second year and lost half a season of growth and
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: development because of COVID that took the rebuild. And yet
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: you were still competitive in a really short period of
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: time compared to other rebuilds that have been done out there.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: And then since the rebuild was over, the team has
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: been as you mentioned, consistently competitive. I think that they
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: were the only team prior to this year that I
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: think there were only two other teams in the entire
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: sport that had winning seasons five years in a row
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: next to the Mariners. And so from that standpoint, there's
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: been a lot of success with this 11 years. But
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: the thing that sticks in everybody's crawl is a consistently
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: underachieving team, a consistently underachieving offense. And yeah, how many
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: times are we going to just bang our head against
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: the wall and expect the team to be better than
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: it actually is on the field? And maybe it is
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: Dan's fault. Maybe it is the player's fault. But if
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: you are overseeing an operation that is consistently underachieving by
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: nearly everyone's standards, then maybe you shouldn't run the program anymore. Yeah.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: And I think that's fair.
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: I think that's fair.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: I think that's a fair argument. That said, it's hard
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: for me to pop the guy that is giving us
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: the roster that should be better than the results are
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: indicating because he does do a lot of good things.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: He does find and develop pitching. They draft incredibly well.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: And I think he actually has adjusted some of those
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: shortcomings that he showed earlier in his tenure. He would
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: never trade for a guy on a rental contract.
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: We did it twice at the trading deadline last year.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: He changed the way that he did things, and we
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: ended up going to the American League Championship Series. And
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: that was a big part of why we did. Yeah,
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: it was. Also, he was somebody that didn't put a
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: lot of stock in Clubhouse. Trades of Paul Seewald, Kendall Graveman,
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: and others are examples of that. I think he's changed
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: his ideas on that. I think his hands were way
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: too imprinted on... handling every aspect of the organization. He
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: didn't have any clue whatsoever about offense, and yet he
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: wanted to be in charge of who he brought in
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: and everything else. And he did two years ago say,
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: I'm going to remove myself from this. I'm going to
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: hand it over to Kevin Seitzer, a proven hitting coach.
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: I'm going to hand it over to Edgar Martinez, one
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: of the great hitters of all time. They're the offense now.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: And for one season, it worked pretty well. It didn't
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: at all this year. So I don't know how much
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: we put Anders on Jerry for that when he said,
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: I'm going to try to find the offensive minds that
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: are going to unlock our offense, and it still hasn't worked.
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah, going back to the length kind of objective to
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: your point there is, I don't know very many managers
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: or very many general managers or presidents of baseball operations, POBOs.
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: That would.
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: be able to oversee trying to win with a veteran group.
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: Then going through rebuild, then trying to, then trying to
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: win with that rebuild and still not getting over the
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: top and having that long of a leash. And we
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: mentioned that with Buster. No, I think he absolutely, he
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: knew he was going to get that long of a leash.
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: He took over a veteran team that was not as,
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: not very good.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: And then they were going to give him the rebuild.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: And then they were going to give him the chance
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: after the rebuild to, to put it over the top.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: And they kept convincing themselves that we're that close. And
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: he did make, as I said, adjustments to some of
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: his shortcomings. And you thought that maybe we went into
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: this season believing this was the best roster that we've
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: had since 2001 in Seattle. And yet it's going to
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: finish with 73 wins this year.
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I do think the big question for me with
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: all this is how much do you factor in this
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: year specifically? Because this year specifically has been... This year
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: has to get everybody's attention. Exactly.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: This puts everybody's head on the chopping block. Every single person,
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: including Jerry DiPoto, which I'm boldly admitting here. He has
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: to be considered as someone that you let go when
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: you're that close and everything falls off of the radar. Right.
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: Like up until now, it's been OK. Yes, we're right
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: on the doorstep, either slightly underachieving or just one step
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: or two underneath where we should be. And in last
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: year's case, right there where you should be. And then
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: this year has been a complete fall off.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: Complete disaster.
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: And hopefully it's not the end of that window with
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: that rebuild that Jerry is building.
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: And that's why we're having this conversation. Justin and Jerry's
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: have to be evaluated like anybody else. But the difference
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: is Dan's out.
• 15:52
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: I mean, that evaluation is over. It's over, yeah.
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: Horrible job, horrible.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: Manager, out. Yeah. Where Jerry and Justin, in my opinion,
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: there's a conversation to be had. And I'm not saying
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: that it doesn't end in them being let go. I'm
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: not saying that because of what you just said. When
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: you have this dramatic of a fall-off, yeah, maybe it
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: was the players' fault first. Maybe it was the managers
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: and the coaches after that. Maybe it was ownership that
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: didn't give you the money. But you obviously were in
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: charge of the entire operation. And when it fails this miserably, yeah,
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: come into my office. Let's have a chat. I agree.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: So there's no chance Dan Wilson comes back? I don't
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: think so. I mean, certainly there is a chance, but
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: I don't think so.
• 16:39
  Speaker 6: So why didn't they fire him when the team still
• 16:42
  Speaker 6: had a chance to turn things around?
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: Why wait?
• 16:46
  Speaker 6: That's my fault. That's why I put a lot of
• 16:49
  Speaker 6: the blame on DePoto. He should have put him, cut him,
• 16:53
  Speaker 6: fired him earlier.
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: I agree. I agree. That's what I'm saying. You're asking me.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: I'm the first guy that said fire him. Chuck, why
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: didn't you fire him? I did fire him. I fired
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: him right here on this show, on these airwaves, coming
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: out of the all-star break. And frankly, and I'm going
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: to state this, I think... we would have been in
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: the playoffs had he done that. And that's another reason though.
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: There are a lot of people that are like with
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: Jerry to Poto, like, are you just bringing in someone
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: that carries out your manifesto? And that doesn't have an
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: opinion of their own. Um, He's obviously hired two managers
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: with no managerial experience. If he does stay, you better
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: get somebody more proven this time around. Yes. Because I
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: agree with Buster. I think the managers will line up
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: down the road to take this young roster with this pitching.
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: I think they can't wait to manage it. And if you,
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: instead of going to get a more proven manager, just
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: decide to pick another person off the street because they
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: are easier to manipulate and you don't want another Mike
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: Socia who tunes you out, then that's on Jerry. That's
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: on Justin. We'll see if he is given the opportunity
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: to even name the next manager.
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: And that's the big question for me is, would it
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: even have been Jerry's call to fire Dan Wilson? I
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: don't personally don't think it would have been, I think,
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: because the hire came from above him from all.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: No, it didn't. That is a lie. Oh, it came
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: from Jerry. Jerry's hire. I've gotten that from the highest,
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: most unimpeachable source. OK, the hire was. Jerry DiPoto hiring
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: Dan Wilson. Now I think ownership liked it. Yeah. I
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: think ownership, certainly they signed off on it. I love
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: that idea, Jerry. I think that probably happened, but no,
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: that was Jerry's hire. And I think Jerry had all
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: the power in the world to let him go at
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: the all-star break and he didn't do it. Yeah. Or
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: at any time previous to the all-star break. I think
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: the writing was on the wall, frankly, last year.
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: Should have been.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: That Dan Wilson is not the right guy to take
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: you over the top. And somehow, with more experience, he
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: got worse. I don't know how that happens, but he did. Man,
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: we got a lot more. We haven't got to text.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: I know. We haven't gotten to anything yet. Jeez. Man,
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: I don't know what to do about it. Well, we
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: might have to do a second version of Mirror, Mirror,
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: Jerry DePoto. I'm down. at some other time. Uh, but, uh,
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: coming up next on the radio program, we can't forget
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: that it is hump day and it is the NFL
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: season and the Arizona Cardinals are on the schedule sports radio,
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: 93.3 KJR FM. Why are you changing the topics? Uh,
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: do you realize how many reactions that we've gotten to
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: this topic so far? And so, I read the room,
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: and I said, well, let's just keep going through the
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: next hour. I'll do Cardinals at 9.30. We've got Cam
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: Cleland at 9 o'clock, so we'll just do the Mirror
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: Mirror topic the entire 8 o'clock hour here. We put
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: Jerry DiPoto under the microscope. and should he be fired?
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: That has been the topic. Everybody knows that's listened to
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: this show at all, that I've defended Jerry more than not,
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: but I've also criticized him a lot over the years
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: as well.
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: You're fair.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: Yes. And so mirror mirror is I'm the fairest of
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: them all. I'm hearing your reasons why he should be
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: fired when I have stated and I'll stand by it.
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: I think there's more good about Jerry DePoto as a
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: baseball or, you know, as, as baseball defense, He's not
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: the general manager anymore, but... Pobo. Pobo.
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: Pobo de podo.
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: Yes. Then there is bad, but I do believe that
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: he is absolutely on the chopping block for analysis and
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: for consideration to be removed, because this was not just
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: a disappointing season. We've gotten used to those. Underachieving seasons,
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: disappointing seasons. This was a flat-out embarrassment type of season
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: this year, and certainly the guy that is at the
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: charge of an embarrassing season has to be put under
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: the microscope. So that's what we're doing here today. We're
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: taking your feedback. We've already got some talk back. Sounds
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: like there's some more coming in. We've also had the
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: text line, Anders, that I want to satisfy. Yeah.
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: First one that I think is just a super simple one.
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: We talked about their record over his tenure and, you know,
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: consistently competitive. But two playoff appearances, 11 years, not good enough.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I kind of covered that a little bit
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: earlier in the hour. Yes. Yes. Two appearances in the playoffs,
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: and yet that's still... He still broke the drought.
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: He still got to the American League Championship Series. He
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: got you closer than any general manager has gotten you
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: to the World Series. And like I said, also with
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: an underachieving team, which might stem from the wrong manager
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: in place over the 11 years of his tenure, that...
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: you've gotten to the last weekend of the regular season
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: being competitive. Yeah. This has not, he's not turned it
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: into a champion. That's not breaking news. And that he
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: has to get better. Can you turn this into a
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: champion or not? You know, are you the right guy
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: for the job? I've questioned that for years, whether or
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: not he knows the last couple of things to do
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: to take you from a team that is a contender
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: to to a champion, and we have fallen short. And
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: I think 11 years is a long time to give
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: someone to do that. But if we would have finished, again,
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: 88 wins this year and got knocked out of the
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: first round of the playoffs, I'm keeping him. But when
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: you finish with 73 wins, that changes things. You're getting
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: further away from the desired goal, from the stated goal here.
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: And yet, as.
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: Buster Olney put it, whoever takes the job is probably
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: going to succeed. Okay. And largely because of the work
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: that Jerry and Justin have done. And I think that
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: deserves to be defended to some degree. But... You know,
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: the goal is to make it to the World Series,
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: and this season certainly didn't suggest we've gotten closer to
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: the objective.
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: All right, next text. With this season specifically, a lot
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: of people, when they defend Jerry DiPoto, they reference the
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: constrictions that he has financially. 14 teams have a lower
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: payroll than the Seattle Mariners do. 11 of them have
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: better records.
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: Oh, I've never said payroll's an issue. I mean, it is.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: I mean, we could operate with a bigger payroll, but
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: we're not going to. And people need to give up
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: that ghost unless we get a salary cap with revenue sharing.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: Then the game changes a little bit. But I don't
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: think ownership is going to change its stripes.
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: I don't think so either.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: And yet with those financial restrictions, that's what I'm judging
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: him by. I'm not judging him by the spending. He
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: can't be judged by the spending. Under the financial restrictions...
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: I still think over the last five years, he's put
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: together a roster that should have done more than what
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: it actually did. I don't think the financial restrictions are
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: what kept us from the goal. I think the financial
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: part of this is a conversation when we do mirror
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: mirror on John Stanton and the ownership group. But in
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: terms of how Jerry DiPoto has managed the payroll, I mean,
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: we have three guys that we all wanted locked up,
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: locked up to long-term deals.
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: Raleigh, Rodriguez, and Naylor. And they all had mediocre to
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: crap years this year. Yeah.
• 24:45
  Speaker 4: Okay?
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: But we all wanted them. There was a celebration that
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: went on when we extended Julio Rodriguez. There was a
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: celebration that went on when we extended Cal Raleigh. There
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: were people saying before Josh Naylor was said, you better
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: not lose Naylor. And now we have Naylor. Does anybody
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: really still want Naylor?
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: Not for this year.
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: Not at that salary. Correct. So I don't know. I'm
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: not going to blame him for those three moves. We
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: all wanted them, and he got them done. Those felt
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: like great moves at the time. And then, based on
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: the other financial restrictions that he so obviously faces, he
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: pieced together a team that should have gone to the
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: World Series by now. He's pieced together a team that
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: should have made the playoffs more than twice.
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: So is it as simple as the manager is holding
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: them back from getting to that point?
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: No, I think there were other things earlier. I think
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: that there were, Jerry was not valuing clubhouse. Jerry was
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: too involved in the offense. We've already covered these. Jerry
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: has a lot of flaws. And yet I think he's
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: tried to fix those things to get you over the top.
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: And obviously this year, if you want to play the
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: blame game, I think Softie had it right a couple
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: of weeks ago, a month ago. They're all to blame.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: But if I'm to blame them, if I'm to rank
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: them in order, players first, manager and coaches second, ownership third,
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: and Jerry and Justin are fourth. Not that I'm forgiving them,
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: excusing them. They take part in this as well. We're
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: having this discussion for a reason. Their heads should be
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: on the chopping block for analysis. better say something good
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: that saves your job right now. However, I blame them
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: fourth for this season of those four groups.
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: All right. How about this? There's more to being a
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: quote president of baseball operations than roster construction and building
• 26:44
  Speaker 3: a farm system. The ability to construct a winning strategy
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: that everyone is on board with that gets the most
• 26:50
  Speaker 3: out of your players is also the job of the
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: president of baseball operations and And I would say that
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: has fallen short, especially this year.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: Well, they certainly don't have a championship formula. I don't
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: want to keep splitting hairs on this, but they've won.
• 27:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: They've won. I'm not going to repeat it again. They
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: have been winners until this year. I think that he
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: surrendered offensive philosophy. And to two people that seemed like
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: they were cooking. And then this year was a disaster.
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it seems like they're going in a bunch of
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: different directions this year.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: Who can see that? I didn't see it coming. Nobody
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: saw this coming. So from that standpoint, I think that
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: they've done really well in their bullpen. And a lot
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: of people slept on the fact that their bullpen was
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: top five at the All-Star break. But we had a
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: manager that was misusing it all season long. And... ran
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: it into the ground. And now for the last month
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: and a half, it's been terrible. Yeah. So that again
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: was something that they did really well. One thing that
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: they do really well is they keep starting pitchers healthy.
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: We did that well again this year. That's part of
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: the offensive. That's part of the strategy. Yeah, of course.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: For winning.
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: So, so it was the piggyback and the lack of
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: communication between everything. I mean, the piggyback, the wasn't without
• 28:19
  Speaker 3: its merits. No, I'm not saying it was the wrong thing,
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: but like having everyone on the same page is right.
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: Part of that.
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: Right. And, and apparently that fell flat with Dan again,
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: that they had had a decision to try this out
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: and that Jerry expected the coaches to relay the information
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: to the players while they were on the road of
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: how they were going to do this. And they never did. Yeah.
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: And that's why the anger took place. And it was a,
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: It was a curiosity. It was sort of an experiment
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: in the middle of the season to try to make
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: something work. And I don't think it worked, but I
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: don't think it was an abstract failure either, like some
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: are also trying to depict. I agree with that. And frankly,
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: the biggest problem of it was that it was supposed
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: to save our bullpen, and yet that was the period
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: of time where Dan Wilson kept running out of arms
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: to use because he was misusing everybody. So, again, I'm
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: not putting it all on Dan Wilson. I've got him
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: second on the list and the blame behind.
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: Players number one.
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: But you can't fire your entire roster, nor should you
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: want to fire this roster. This roster's still got terrific
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: potential going forward, thanks to the jobs that Jerry and
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: Justin did. But, yes, they have to be held responsible
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: for why... did this team perform so far below expectations
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: this year? What do you not have right? And here's
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: something that hasn't even come up in the hour, because
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: I think this is the greatest mystery of all Mariners mysteries.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: Why do players with proven track records, be they niche
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: or be they all-encompassing, come to Seattle and are atrocious.
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: How does Taylor Ward go from the league's leader in
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: walks and a viable right-handed hitter who hits left-handed pitching,
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: and the moment he puts on a Mariner uniform, he's
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: the worst player in the league? How does that happen?
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: Because I promised you what's not happening. Hey, Taylor Ward,
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: welcome to the Mariners. We love what you bring to
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: the table. Now come with us. We're going to change
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: everything about you. Why does that happen? Why did Colton
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: Wong go from a three and a half war player
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: to suddenly the worst player in baseball? Why did Rob
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: Refsnyder go from three straight years of being a Red
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: Sox favorite player for how much he crushed left-handers to
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: getting here and he couldn't do one thing right? How
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: did Mitch Garver go from the guy that should have won,
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: if not for Corey Seager, would have won the MVP
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: of the World Series to getting here? And not only
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: can I not hit righties, I can't hit lefties, I
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: can't do anything. The only thing I can do is challenge.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: How does that happen? How does that happen?
• 31:20
  Speaker 3: I normally take that step into, that was kind of
• 31:22
  Speaker 3: the question I was asking earlier, having everyone on the
• 31:27
  Speaker 3: same page with a winning strategy. I realize that when
• 31:31
  Speaker 3: players come in, they don't try and change a bunch
• 31:33
  Speaker 3: of stuff, but usually you have a game plan as
• 31:37
  Speaker 3: a team.
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: Well, they have a game plan. It just didn't work.
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: They have a game plan, Anders. They meet every day.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: They have a game plan for how they're going to
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: do it.
• 31:50
  Speaker 3: Then it's not a good enough one.
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: It's not getting executed.
• 31:54
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: Where is the fault? Is it the fault of the
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: players aren't executing it? Is it the fault of the
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: coaches not correcting flaws in the players who aren't executing?
• 32:10
  Speaker 3: Or is it the strategy itself?
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: Is it the strategy itself? Well, they've gone with three
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: different offensive philosophies since they took over, and all three
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: of them have been terrible. It's not like they're not trying.
• 32:24
  Speaker 3: Oh, I know.
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: And this last one, they've handed completely over to Seitzer
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: and Martinez. And for a season it worked, and this
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: season it didn't. For a season, Cal Raleigh was the
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: best hitter, power hitter, not named Aaron Judge in the world.
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: And this season, he was the worst player in the
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: game for four months. Who foresees that? What do you
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: put together that can correct that? Or prepare for that?
• 32:50
  Speaker 3: I don't know.
• 32:52
  Speaker 5: I don't know.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: They don't have some sort of flawed... I mean, maybe
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: they do. Did they pick three flawed offensive philosophies in
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: a row? I don't know. Those are some mysterious elements
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: to me. Yes, they are. To me, the job of
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: the general manager, maybe it's not the president. Maybe the
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: president's in charge of more. I'm acknowledging that. But the
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: job of the general manager is the roster construction. And
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: like I said many times before, this team should have
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: been really good. Why were they not? Where is the breakdown?
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: And why do proven players that are here to fill
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: niche roles, can they not perform in those niche roles?
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: All right. One more segment. Sports Radio 93.3 KJR FM. Again,
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: so it's Jerry's fault that Julio's not as great as
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: we thought he would be. It's Jerry's fault that Cal
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: fell off the earth this year for four months. I
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: don't think it's Jerry's fault that Josh Naylor only had
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: 10 home runs this year. All you can do is
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: Go with the information that you have at your fingertips.
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: There wasn't one person that didn't love all three of
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: those signings that I ran into. Not one. Cole Young
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: is going to be really good at second base. Cole
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: Emerson is going to be really good at shortstop. He's
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: going to have the same jump next year that Cole
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: Young had this year. Dom Canzone had a breakthrough season.
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: There's a piece.
• 34:23
  Speaker 3: He's had two good seasons in a row, actually.
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: So your holes going forward are third base and left field.
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: And that's if Brendan Donovan's going to be a utility
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: player next year to save him from his Nederlander-type injuries. Plus,
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: you have Laz Montes on the horizon. And if you
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: weren't impressed with what you saw in the short time
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: we had Laz Montes, I don't know what to tell you.
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: It doesn't mean that it's a guarantee because he strikes
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: out a lot. And you have an entire offseason with
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: payroll trimmed off of the roster with the Castillo trade
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: and a Rosarino leaving, and you've got a pitcher to
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: trade this offseason to fill those two holes that we have. No,
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: you're wrong. It was a bad year. If you think
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: Cal Raleigh's terrible and he's going to be terrible forever,
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: and Julio's terrible, which I don't think he's terrible, and
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: Josh Naylor is terrible... then yeah, be worried about it.
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: But is that Jerry and Justin's fault that you didn't maximize,
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: that those guys had terrible years? I don't think so.
• 35:21
  Speaker 3: It's hard for me to, it's just hard for.
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: Me to go there when I'm, when everybody under the
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: sun thinks that those three guys are worth building a
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: foundation around and then they have a bad year and it's,
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: why did Jerry and Justin ever do that? Those three
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: guys suck.
• 35:38
  Speaker 3: I don't get that. I don't get the perception that
• 35:42
  Speaker 3: a lot of people, are questioning signing those guys. It's
• 35:46
  Speaker 3: the fact that they can't get the most out of them.
• 35:48
  Speaker 3: And the big one is... That's not on Jerry Justin.
• 35:51
  Speaker 3: That's on the coaches. But A, isn't Jerry hiring the coaches?
• 35:57
  Speaker 3: And B, the strategy, that's everything.
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: So he should have fired Seitz or two in the offseason?
• 36:02
  Speaker 4: No.
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: After making the ALCS?
• 36:06
  Speaker 3: When you're the president of baseball operations, you're in charge
• 36:09
  Speaker 3: of everything, right? So this is where I think.
• 36:13
  Speaker 3: Whether you delegate that responsibility or not, the buck stops
• 36:18
  Speaker 3: with you.
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: That's why we're having the conversation. Yes, he has to
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: be evaluated. But to me, when you are, your job is,
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: you're right, he oversees the entire operation, so he has
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: to be held responsible. I just hold him less responsible
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: for some of these things. His job is to go
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: acquire talent and put together the roster, and everyone under
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: the sun believed that this roster was good enough to
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: win and run away with the American League West this year.
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: So it is hard for me to now come back
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: and say, he was stupid for decisions that a lot
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: of us rubber-stamped, including yourself.
• 36:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, no, and I like the roster, but this is
• 36:56
  Speaker 3: where the previous question comes in. There's more to being
• 36:59
  Speaker 3: a president of baseball operations than roster construction. That's not
• 37:02
  Speaker 3: his only job. His job is to hire people or
• 37:05
  Speaker 3: put together a game plan or a strategy.
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: He made a real big mistake with Dan Wilson, if
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: that's what you want me to hear.
• 37:11
  Speaker 3: Well, that and just everything. You're not getting the most
• 37:14
  Speaker 3: out of Julio. He's gotten down in terms of his
• 37:17
  Speaker 3: outcomes almost every single year. Why is that?
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: I don't know.
• 37:21
  Speaker 3: But again, the buck stops at the guy at the top.
• 37:25
  Speaker 3: It's your job to... put together a roster, and then
• 37:29
  Speaker 3: put together a coaching staff and a game plan slash
• 37:31
  Speaker 3: strategy that gets the most out of your best players. Now,
• 37:34
  Speaker 3: you did that last year with Cal Raleigh, but for
• 37:36
  Speaker 3: the most part, Josh Naylor came here and was successful,
• 37:40
  Speaker 3: but he was just god-awful this year. Julio's gone down
• 37:44
  Speaker 3: since his rookie year. There's a lot of examples of
• 37:48
  Speaker 3: whether it is coaching-related or not. It's the guy who's
• 37:53
  Speaker 3: overseeing all of the baseball operations job.
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: Which is why we're having this conversation. And if it's
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: time for him to leave because of that, because you've
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: gotten further away from your stated goal, I'm going to
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: lose one wink of sleep over that. And then the
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: quest will be to find someone else who will, I'm
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: telling you, take this group and win with it. They
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: will win. Yeah. I don't know what happened this year.
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: No one does. No one reasonable can explain it. That's
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: why Joe Sheehan says it's the most disappointing season in
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: the last 26 years of Major League Baseball. Agreed. Agreed.
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: He's only saying that because of how well the team
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: was constructed and was prepared to win baseball games this year.
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: And it's not like injuries were the cause. No, it wasn't.
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: So why did everybody have such a bad season at
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: the exact same time?
• 38:50
  Speaker 3: Not enough time to get into it, but.
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: There's not, even though we gave ourselves more time than
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: we allotted.
• 38:55
  Speaker 6: I know, there's still more!
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: Alright, we have to flip to Cam. He's next. Cam
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: Cleland on KJR.