Summary: This week Kate and John are joined by staff writer Matthew Robeson to talk the current state of the team, the slumping offense, and a bunch of other nonsense because talking about the team isn’t super-fun right now. 0 - 12:00: Matthew and John offer a preview of their TED talk, How to Watch Mariners Baseball: a Primer. Matthew is outraged the team rosters both Nick Vincent and Zach Vincej, although for how much longer, who knows. The current state of the offense is discussed, and the word “brutal” is used a fair amount of times. Matthew is forced to revisit the long interview he just wrote up with prospect Bryson Brigman, traded for Cameron Maybin the day the article was set to publish. 12:00 - 24:00: Discussing Maybin and the trade deadline. Matthew invokes the name of Austin Jackson and some heavy magical thinking. John raises the question of what the Mariners’ best-ever trade deadline acquisition was, and Matthew makes a good argument that it might be Denard Span. Kate tries to delineate between loyalty to Félix and wanting accountability for things the King could have done better, and inadvertently causes Matthew to black out. 24:00 - 38:00: Looking down the stretch and assessing the panic levels for all teams not named The Boston Red Sox. Discussing the A’s bold trade deadline strategy of doing nothing and whether or not their heavily-taxed bullpen can continue to support starters who can’t make it through the seventh, assessing the sustainability of their offensive production, and examining their schedule compared to ours. 38:00 - 45:00: Assessing panic levels. John points out that the fanbase has a longer memory of the Mariners’ longterm failure than almost anyone who is currently playing for the Mariners. Sometimes not having any homegrown prospects is good! Matthew notes that in that way, the fanbase reflects the city itself. 45:00 - end: Questions!
