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0:00-16:00: Things are happening! Jerry Dipoto and the Mariners are movin’ and shakin’. To make heads or tails of this, the podcast gang reconvenes to mostly just share their excitement about having actual news. While the acquisitions of Keynan Middleton and Rafael Montero are still just reliever acquisitions, there are things to get hyped about here. Kate also briefly forgets one of her longtime staff writer’s name. As someone who also hates Angels fans, we think Middleton will fit in beautifully with the Mariners.
16:05-39:05: 17-year-old pitching prospect Jose Corniell is gone. 30-year-old reliever Rafael Montero is here. What should we expect from the ex-Ranger, who was their closer in 2020? Also, he was a Mets prospect, because of course he was! Will we see Seattle add another bullpen arm from the AL West? Are the Mariners going to have a bullpen made entirely of 98 MPH fastballs? Matthew, Kate, and John wonder aloud who the M’s will deploy in the closer role. This segues nicely into a few of our listener questions. Now that the Mariners have added bodies to the bullpen, watching how they handle the fringe players will be an interesting dance.
39:10-1:00:45: Let’s recap all of the news that Seattle Times beat writer Ryan Divish blessed us with. Murphy and Haniger are back, Ty France is expected to play every day, and we have a second base competition. At one point during this section, John starts audibly talking with his hands. A Twitter user brings up an unspeakable atrocity, and debates about Taylor Trammell’s readiness and Jake Fraley’s anything-ness bubble to the surface.
1:00:50-1:13:45: Scott Servais has confirmed that they’ll roll with the six-man rotation, we just don’t know who will fill the final three spots. The 1993 comedic film Rookie of the Year gets some shine. Kate makes a late push to ghostwrite Scott Boras’ thoughts. Matthew sneaks in some content for the jersey number heads.
Music: “Hard Feelings/Loveless” by Lorde // “Oh My” by Natalie Prass