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Sinking Seattle M’s w/Ryan Divish · Foul Territory

0:05
Speaker 1: Ryan Davish covers the Mariners for the Seattle Times, one
0:07
Speaker 1: of our favorite guests on FT Ryan, Good to see you, man,
0:10
Speaker 1: and of course we wish that these were times that
0:13
Speaker 1: were a little easier to talk about in Seattle World.
0:16
Speaker 1: To give him a ton of credit during the trade
0:17
Speaker 1: deadline for getting some things done. Yet here we are.
0:21
Speaker 1: They're okay, They're in a playoff spot. But I'm going
0:23
Speaker 1: to start with the classic Are they okay?
0:28
Speaker 2: Well, I've talked about this before. I mean, this isn't new.
0:32
Speaker 2: I don't know if they're okay. I think they're in
0:35
Speaker 2: a familiar spot. I just actually wrote a story all
0:38
Speaker 2: about this about since twenty twenty one, they've had these
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Speaker 2: little swoons at the end of every season, right around
0:45
Speaker 2: early September or late August. And you know, in twenty
0:49
Speaker 2: twenty two they were able to play through it. They
0:51
Speaker 2: had enough of a lead that they could withstand it.
0:53
Speaker 2: The other two years they were short, And I think
0:57
Speaker 2: that's the biggest thing. I don't know if they're okay
1:00
Speaker 2: in a sense that like cal Rawley lived this the
1:02
Speaker 2: last few years, JP Crawford, you know, getting down to
1:06
Speaker 2: the very last week of the season and getting eliminated
1:09
Speaker 2: and knowing that you had a rough stretch that really
1:12
Speaker 2: kind of torpedoed your chances is something that kind of looms,
1:16
Speaker 2: and I think it's a motivating factor. But at the
1:19
Speaker 2: same time, I mean, like, you know, I don't know
1:21
Speaker 2: if it makes them tight or you know, as adds
1:24
Speaker 2: any additional stress to the situation. But they are not
1:27
Speaker 2: playing well right now, particularly on the road, and you know,
1:32
Speaker 2: they have this series against the Braves coming up, and
1:35
Speaker 2: they have a kind of an important road trip in
1:37
Speaker 2: a few weeks with three at the Royals and three
1:40
Speaker 2: at the Astros.
1:42
Speaker 3: This travel has to be it this travel, like the
1:45
Speaker 3: travel that they're on. They just keep getting crushed with
1:48
Speaker 3: this and the Major League Baseball said, you know what,
1:51
Speaker 3: We're going to double you up on two East Coast trips.
1:55
Speaker 3: Do you ever talk or hear talk from the players,
1:58
Speaker 3: honest chatter about being tired on these trips because they
2:02
Speaker 3: have the most By the end of the year, they've
2:04
Speaker 3: easily logged thousands more miles than any other team.
2:08
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, like the other night they we played
2:11
Speaker 2: in Tampa, seven thirty five start time, and it's a
2:14
Speaker 2: getaway day. You know, you're flying Atlanta it's a short flight,
2:18
Speaker 2: but seven thirty five start time, game gets over at
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Speaker 2: like eleven thirty. That's that's late. And you know, the
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Speaker 2: big thing is is these guys don't want to get
2:27
Speaker 2: twelve hours of sleep, and which I would I would
2:30
Speaker 2: kill to have half of that. But yeah, these these
2:34
Speaker 2: East Coast trips are tough, and what the Marriors want
2:36
Speaker 2: to do, they don't want to keep going back and
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Speaker 2: forth to the East Coast. They would prefer to to,
2:40
Speaker 2: you know, try and bunch up the East Coast trips.
2:43
Speaker 2: But you know, two and two and like the last
2:45
Speaker 2: two series they were in, they were in Baltimore, New York,
2:50
Speaker 2: plus the Williams Part game, plus Philly. Then they came
2:53
Speaker 2: back from only six at home and then we're back
2:55
Speaker 2: out you know what was it? Cleveland, Tampa and Atlanta.
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Speaker 2: And they have these a long trips and it does
3:02
Speaker 2: your three hour time difference, it does mess with them.
3:04
Speaker 2: I think the sleep factor is a problem. You know,
3:06
Speaker 2: they talk about it a little bit. The humidity because
3:10
Speaker 2: you guys have been to Seattle in July and August.
3:12
Speaker 2: It's beautiful there. There is no humidity and it never
3:15
Speaker 2: gets above eighty five. You come out here and it's
3:19
Speaker 2: a little different, so they've talked about it. I do
3:22
Speaker 2: think that that they have not done themselves any favors
3:26
Speaker 2: by playing these guys as much as they have. I wrote,
3:29
Speaker 2: I checked the other day. They have five guys that
3:31
Speaker 2: have played more than one hundred and thirty five games
3:33
Speaker 2: this year, and that's the most of any team in baseball,
3:37
Speaker 2: and that's significant. You're talking about au Haano Suarez who
3:40
Speaker 2: played a lot with the Diamondbacks, but JP Crawford, Cayl Rawley,
3:46
Speaker 2: and then Randy Rose Rain and Julio Rodriguez. All those
3:48
Speaker 2: guys other than Julio are you know, thirty or above.
3:51
Speaker 2: So it does wear on you. And I think we've
3:53
Speaker 2: seen some fatigue in the last couple of weeks, just
3:57
Speaker 2: kind of grinding everything out.
4:00
Speaker 3: All right. So obviously the the roster construction didn't give
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Speaker 3: them the flexibility. But let's be honest, the team like this,
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Speaker 3: who's right on the edge and doesn't have a lot
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Speaker 3: of money to spend, they have to play all their
4:12
Speaker 3: best players. They have to play those guys have to
4:15
Speaker 3: play every single day, and I think they're young enough.
4:17
Speaker 3: So unfortunately, this is where they're at going into September.
4:21
Speaker 3: But the biggest question for me is the starting pitching.
4:25
Speaker 3: How did this starting pitching just all of a sudden
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Speaker 3: not show up. This was the superpower that we've been
4:31
Speaker 3: crying for the last few years. You know what, They're healthy,
4:35
Speaker 3: all their elite, they got it and now they have
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Speaker 3: pretty much Brian wu right now.
4:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you're seeing some cumulation factors. Accumulation factors
4:45
Speaker 2: like you know, Logan Gilbert, Bryce Miller, George Kirby, Bryan
4:49
Speaker 2: will all went you know, season high in innings. I
4:52
Speaker 2: mean Logan's progressive up to you know, he was over
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Speaker 2: two hundred innings last year, one of the few pitchers
4:57
Speaker 2: that did that. And Logan, George, Bryce all spent significant
5:01
Speaker 2: time on the injured list this year. And with Luis Castillo,
5:05
Speaker 2: I think we're just seeing kind of wear down. He
5:07
Speaker 2: was outstanding in the first half, but second half he
5:10
Speaker 2: started to kind of decline. He hasn't been able. There
5:13
Speaker 2: was a stretch where he just couldn't get that extra
5:15
Speaker 2: day of rest that they love to give pictures, and
5:17
Speaker 2: I think that was a problem. So yeah, and what's
5:20
Speaker 2: really striking is their era on the road versus at home.
5:23
Speaker 2: I think at home, their top six or seven on
5:26
Speaker 2: the road, they're one of the five worst in all
5:28
Speaker 2: the baseball And Bryce Miller talked about it the other day,
5:31
Speaker 2: is that sometimes when they get away from T Mobile Park,
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Speaker 2: where the ball doesn't carry as well and you don't
5:36
Speaker 2: get punished for a mistake, they get a little too fine.
5:39
Speaker 2: They get a little bit too on the edges. They're
5:41
Speaker 2: trying to make the perfect pitch instead of having the
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Speaker 2: same mentality that they have at home, which was, no,
5:45
Speaker 2: here it is we have good stuff. Here it is,
5:47
Speaker 2: we'll throw it in the zone early, get early, get
5:50
Speaker 2: ahead early, and you know, take their chances. And they
5:54
Speaker 2: just haven't done that on the road, especially on this trip.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, it's very one of those things about the Mariners.
6:00
Speaker 4: They always talk about their pitching, how good it is,
6:02
Speaker 4: and then the hitting needs to come up. I want
6:05
Speaker 4: to talk about one guy in particular. You henniy O
6:07
Speaker 4: Suarez came over. Everybody's excited, you know, it seems seemed
6:11
Speaker 4: to me, Yeah, he's got six home runs, but he
6:13
Speaker 4: hasn't found his niche a little bit. Have you What
6:15
Speaker 4: have you seen from him? And is he pressing a
6:17
Speaker 4: little bit or is there you know, something else going on?
6:20
Speaker 2: Well, you know as well as I do that Geno
6:23
Speaker 2: can be a little streaky, and he's just kind of
6:25
Speaker 2: in that lew where he's getting you know, he's getting
6:27
Speaker 2: his bombs and hitting some power, but the strikeouts are there.
6:31
Speaker 2: I think, you know, just the adjustment. It just seems
6:34
Speaker 2: like he was so hot in Arizona there was going
6:36
Speaker 2: to be a cool off factor. I thought it was
6:39
Speaker 2: picking up earlier on this road trip when we were
6:42
Speaker 2: in Cleveland. They we saw some homers, a lot of hits,
6:45
Speaker 2: you know, and I think they're just pitching him a
6:47
Speaker 2: little differently too. I've noticed that they, you know, he
6:50
Speaker 2: can hammer a breaking ball, and I think they've really
6:53
Speaker 2: been trying to attack him differently with a lot of
6:56
Speaker 2: elevated heaters, trying to get ahead of him that way,
6:58
Speaker 2: trying to force some different kind of contact instead of
7:01
Speaker 2: trying to go soft away. He really is sat on
7:03
Speaker 2: some mistake breaking pitches, and people are making sure that
7:06
Speaker 2: if they're throwing a breaking pitch to him, it's well
7:08
Speaker 2: out of the zone, hoping they can get some chase.
7:11
Speaker 2: I think we'll see him pick it up here a
7:12
Speaker 2: little bit. He's just kind of one of those guys,
7:14
Speaker 2: you know where There'll be seven days where it's unbelievable
7:18
Speaker 2: and seven days where it looks like he may never
7:20
Speaker 2: get another hit. But we've seen some signs, you know,
7:22
Speaker 2: the contact rate has been better and some things on
7:25
Speaker 2: this road trip.
7:26
Speaker 3: What's it gonna take for cal Rally to win the MVP?
7:29
Speaker 3: I get it, He's put together quite a year. This swoon,
7:33
Speaker 3: the slide he's had in the second half is realistic.
7:36
Speaker 3: If he plays one hundred and fifty five games this year,
7:38
Speaker 3: that is crazy. I don't care if he caught and
7:41
Speaker 3: DH that is crazy. But he's gonna need all those
7:43
Speaker 3: games for the team to make the playoffs. So what
7:45
Speaker 3: does he need to do down the stretch here to
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Speaker 3: overtake judge?
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Speaker 2: I think he's got to pick up the production level
7:53
Speaker 2: and the Mariners have to get in the postseason. I
7:55
Speaker 2: know some voters don't really subscribe to team's success as
7:59
Speaker 2: actor and all of that, But if the Mariners somehow
8:02
Speaker 2: don't make the playoffs and he has this monster season
8:05
Speaker 2: but has kind of this slide in the last month,
8:06
Speaker 2: that will hurt him in the boating. To me, you
8:10
Speaker 2: look at what he does on a daily basis. He
8:12
Speaker 2: caught six straight games on the coming out of this
8:15
Speaker 2: going into this road trip. I mean we were in Cleveland.
8:18
Speaker 2: He caught every game there, including the day game after
8:20
Speaker 2: a night game. My guess is he's gonna catch ninety
8:23
Speaker 2: percent of the games in this last in this last month,
8:27
Speaker 2: just because he's that good and he can kind of
8:29
Speaker 2: control the running game. So if he just kind of
8:32
Speaker 2: continues to play, you know, plays off and behind the
8:35
Speaker 2: plate as he does, but pick up the production, start
8:37
Speaker 2: hitting homers. Let's also start getting you know, just some
8:40
Speaker 2: base hits, not just the power, I think he can
8:42
Speaker 2: win it. To me, what he does on a daily
8:45
Speaker 2: basis is just absurd. I can't fathom how much he
8:51
Speaker 2: how much he's hurting. We watch every game where he's
8:53
Speaker 2: just getting beaten to death and he won't complain, and
8:56
Speaker 2: he won't take himself out of the lineup, and he
8:58
Speaker 2: doesn't want an off day. And it's starting to really,
9:01
Speaker 2: you know, I think we're seeing some of that, you know,
9:04
Speaker 2: kind of come into effect here where he's just beat
9:06
Speaker 2: up a little bit. The swing looks a little slower,
9:08
Speaker 2: You're missing some pitches that maybe normally you would hit
9:10
Speaker 2: or foul him off when you would normally drive them
9:12
Speaker 2: for Homer, but I would think this, you know, the
9:15
Speaker 2: last three weeks here will kind of pick him up,
9:18
Speaker 2: you know, with the adrenaline rush of the postseason looming.
9:20
Speaker 2: I think it'll be fine. But he's just got to
9:22
Speaker 2: kind of pick it up and the Maris have to
9:23
Speaker 2: get in the postseason. And I think he has a
9:25
Speaker 2: really strong case just because of the positional demands. I
9:30
Speaker 2: wrote a whole story on him last year. I followed
9:34
Speaker 2: him from a morning in spring training at four thirty
9:36
Speaker 2: which was miserable, getting up to meet him at the
9:39
Speaker 2: complex at four point thirty in the morning, and on
9:41
Speaker 2: a game where he on a day where he didn't
9:43
Speaker 2: play in the game, he got there at four thirty
9:45
Speaker 2: am and left at six thirty pm. That's absurd. That's
9:49
Speaker 2: how much time he put in. He caught multiple pullpens,
9:52
Speaker 2: took hacks on the minor league field, did extra work,
9:56
Speaker 2: met with some pitchers, talk with a bunch of people.
9:58
Speaker 2: It was crazy. He still does that almost every day.
10:01
Speaker 2: He's not getting to the field at four thirty am
10:02
Speaker 2: for games, but he's one of the first people there
10:05
Speaker 2: every day. And I mean it's it's been just to
10:09
Speaker 2: see what he's done and to see the success he's
10:12
Speaker 2: had is pretty amazing.
10:14
Speaker 3: You might have some recency bias here because you just
10:17
Speaker 3: saw Tampa. But which of the three teams who have
10:21
Speaker 3: all giggity amount of losses the Rangers one and a
10:25
Speaker 3: half back, the Royals two back, the Rays two back,
10:29
Speaker 3: and you just saw Cleveland three and a half back.
10:32
Speaker 3: Which one of these teams seems like they're the biggest
10:35
Speaker 3: threat to the Mariners if they continue to swoon and
10:40
Speaker 3: fall like they have recently.
10:43
Speaker 2: I mean, the Rays looked ridiculous. Or Junior Camanaro like
10:49
Speaker 2: he was hitting p rods all over the field and
10:51
Speaker 2: they were They could have rolled it up there and
10:53
Speaker 2: he would have hit it at a rocket. I was
10:56
Speaker 2: so impressed by him, Like watching that guy take batting
10:58
Speaker 2: practices a show. But what makes Tampa really special is
11:04
Speaker 2: that bullpen. But they have they have everything that the
11:07
Speaker 2: Mariners want in terms of strikeout guys in the middle innings.
11:11
Speaker 2: You know, you bring in Usetta and Baker and all
11:14
Speaker 2: those guys, and then you still have Fairbanks and you
11:17
Speaker 2: have Jacks. They get strikeouts. That's what you want in
11:22
Speaker 2: a bullpen. And I think when you get into these
11:24
Speaker 2: games late, if they can shorten the games. They can
11:27
Speaker 2: really be difficult to beat because you know, all Shane
11:30
Speaker 2: Boz has to do is give them five or six,
11:32
Speaker 2: and he hasn't been very good. He was good against
11:34
Speaker 2: the Mariners. That's big, you know. Drew Rasmussen has been great.
11:37
Speaker 2: I like the race because I like how they play.
11:40
Speaker 2: They don't they're not real flashy other than Camen Arow,
11:42
Speaker 2: but they're pretty solid. I the Guardians seem a little
11:46
Speaker 2: flawed to me, but you know, you never know. When
11:49
Speaker 2: you have Jose Ramirez in your lineup, you're always pretty competitive.
11:52
Speaker 2: But I think the Rays could be a real threat.
11:54
Speaker 2: The one thing is they have real games coming up
11:57
Speaker 2: to they have and playing Toronto several times down the
12:01
Speaker 2: stretch will be interesting to see where Toronto's at, if
12:04
Speaker 2: they have everything locked up or if they're still playing
12:06
Speaker 2: for something. That will be a difference maker as well.
12:09
Speaker 1: Ryan will armchair quarterback because it's fun. And the Mariners
12:13
Speaker 1: were praised for what they did at the deadline. I
12:16
Speaker 1: was one of those people that said, yeah, you need
12:18
Speaker 1: two corner bats, you go get them. Mission accomplished. There
12:21
Speaker 1: the only criticism I had, and I was like, hey,
12:23
Speaker 1: if we want to take this from an a whatever
12:25
Speaker 1: I did, aar A minus to a plus, swing and
12:28
Speaker 1: Miss guy and bullpen everyone does it, right. They got
12:30
Speaker 1: Caleb Ferguson, but talking about a Dernan right or somebody
12:35
Speaker 1: like that that was available, and there were other names too,
12:37
Speaker 1: of course. So if you're looking back and the way
12:39
Speaker 1: that you just described the Rays getting swing and miss
12:42
Speaker 1: getting to the end of their game, is that what
12:44
Speaker 1: you would have done? Like if you could do a
12:45
Speaker 1: redo right now, just add to the trade deadline, would
12:48
Speaker 1: you get the reliever or something else.
12:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm a big believer in getting the swing and
12:53
Speaker 2: miss guy at the deadline if you can get it,
12:55
Speaker 2: and they were. They they really wanted a swing and
12:58
Speaker 2: Miss guy. They went in on Duran pretty hard, and
13:02
Speaker 2: from everything I've been told, they thought they had a
13:05
Speaker 2: deal locked up with to with the twins to get
13:08
Speaker 2: you on Duran. And at the last you know minute,
13:12
Speaker 2: you know, the last hour or two of the the
13:14
Speaker 2: deadline is when Philly came in and up the offer
13:17
Speaker 2: and they the marriage just didn't didn't or wouldn't match it.
13:20
Speaker 2: Maybe they should have. Like I haven't gotten the exact
13:24
Speaker 2: details on who they were offering, but you look at
13:27
Speaker 2: what Philly gave up one was a catching prospect. So
13:30
Speaker 2: my guess is Harry Ford was probably somebody that the
13:32
Speaker 2: Mariners were willing to give up in that deal. They
13:35
Speaker 2: really wanted Duran and they felt like they were going
13:37
Speaker 2: to get him, and at the last minute it kind
13:39
Speaker 2: of fell apart, and I think that was, you know,
13:41
Speaker 2: pretty dispiriting for them. And that's another thing too, is
13:45
Speaker 2: the marriage have been really good about kind of finding
13:47
Speaker 2: relievers off the well we used to call them the
13:50
Speaker 2: Island of misfit arms. You know, you find Paul s
13:53
Speaker 2: wall for or you get one really good year out
13:55
Speaker 2: of uh Drew second Rider or Drew second Rider or
13:59
Speaker 2: j Chargua, you know, justin Topa they find these guys.
14:03
Speaker 2: They haven't been able to necessarily do that this year.
14:06
Speaker 2: Edward Bizardo is a guy that's been pretty good, and
14:08
Speaker 2: that's why they moved Emerson Hancock to the bullpen is
14:10
Speaker 2: hoping that they could find a little magic there and
14:13
Speaker 2: get a little bit more swing and miss and just
14:14
Speaker 2: get some depth. You know, Jackson cor and Troy Taylor,
14:18
Speaker 2: guys who they relied upon, just haven't been who they
14:20
Speaker 2: thought they were gonna be this year, and they were
14:22
Speaker 2: hoping they'd be something more. All right.
14:24
Speaker 4: So after all this talk and we talk about the hitters,
14:27
Speaker 4: the pitchers, the team, does this team make the playoffs
14:31
Speaker 4: come the end of September.
14:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think they're gonna do it. I think it
14:36
Speaker 2: will be the typical down to the last possible day
14:42
Speaker 2: and they'll probably you know, last couple of days. You know,
14:45
Speaker 2: why not make the anxiety as high as possible. It's
14:48
Speaker 2: been like that for quite a while, so I think
14:50
Speaker 2: they still I think they still have enough to do.
14:53
Speaker 2: It will be really interesting is the Dodgers. They closed
14:57
Speaker 2: this season with the Dodgers at home, and you know,
15:00
Speaker 2: the Dodgers are in a real race now. It's not
15:02
Speaker 2: like in years past where they're resting guys and just
15:05
Speaker 2: kind of playing out the string to get ready for
15:07
Speaker 2: the postseason. Dodgers got to play. So they have the
15:09
Speaker 2: Rockies and they have the Dodgers to close out the season
15:13
Speaker 2: at home. I mean, like the Mayor still hold hope
15:15
Speaker 2: that they can catch the Astros. I think they're three
15:17
Speaker 2: and a half back. You know, they got three games
15:20
Speaker 2: in Houston and that could be defining. But they just
15:23
Speaker 2: have to play a little bit better, you know, get
15:25
Speaker 2: better starting pitching, play a little cleaner in the field,
15:28
Speaker 2: and I think they'll be fine.
15:30
Speaker 1: All right, We're keeping an eye on this one. I
15:33
Speaker 1: feel for Seattle fans. I want them to get some
15:35
Speaker 1: more playoff baseball. I'm sure that would be fun to cover. Ryan,
15:39
Speaker 1: good stuff, man, Thanks for joining us. Good to see you.
15:41
Speaker 1: And actually at the end here welcome back. I don't
15:44
Speaker 1: know you've had you back since the little break, the
15:47
Speaker 1: little sabbatical, right.
15:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, I took a little break to coach American Legion
15:51
Speaker 2: baseball back in Montana, coach my step son. It was.
15:55
Speaker 2: It was pretty crazy. I you know, I had a
15:58
Speaker 2: few Aaron Boone moments for with the umpires. We we
16:02
Speaker 2: ran into the Angel Hernandez and Montana umpires late in
16:05
Speaker 2: the season.
16:05
Speaker 4: So there was you won't you won't give me a
16:08
Speaker 4: shout out, give me his name, give me a shout out.
16:12
Speaker 2: It's what's the problem.
16:14
Speaker 3: Give there's nothing more. Give him, there's no more. He's
16:18
Speaker 3: being angel. He wants the love.
16:21
Speaker 4: Kid. You don't have to say his name.
16:23
Speaker 3: There's nothing.
16:24
Speaker 4: If it was John, We're good.
16:31
Speaker 2: You guys have all been to Montana. I know you
16:33
Speaker 2: guys have spelling. Oh yeah, Montana.
16:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, good, stuff nice well, Ryan, good to see you back.
16:40
Speaker 2: Thanks for the time, dude, Thanks guys,