[jaa36]

AG: Welcome back to The Wheelhouse, everybody. Once again I'm Aaron Goldsmith, and here with me is Jerry Dipoto. Jerry, thanks for being here.

JD: Thanks Aaron.

AG: A difficult way to end the week, Jerry, but overall you've gotta be pretty happy with the team thus far.

JD: Yeah, 7-7 is fine. It's not where we want to be, but it's a better spot than we were in two weeks ago. Didn't I tell you not to worry?

AG: That you did, Jerry. Good advice. The first thing I wanted to talk to you about was, how about Kyle Seager!?! Two home runs on Sunday, seven on the season which is tied for the best in baseball.

JD: Kyle is hitting the cover off the ball. The shift does not stop you if you are hitting bombs out of right field. We're thrilled with his approach at the plate, and when he has seen a pitch this year, he's hit it, no question.

AG: All around, Kyle has always been a well-kept secret here in Seattle, flying under the radar as one of the best third basemen in baseball, not only offensively but defensively as well. Is this the season he finally gets some national recognition?

JD: Well, the way he's playing now, he's going to be hard to ignore, that's for sure.

AG: The other interesting development for the offense has been the Mariners simply tearing up the base paths so far. Dee Gordon has lived up to his reputation, and I suppose to his father's nickname, stealing an incredible 11 bases in the early going without getting caught once.

JD: He is an incredible weapon at the top of the lineup. I'm not sure that there's anyone faster in baseball, and when you couple that with his instincts and ability to get a lead, not to mention his ability to find his way on base, it would not surprise me one bit if he pushed a hundred steals this year. And that's something that hasn't been done in over thirty years. I'll just say this: he has the green light every time he's on base.

AG: Have you ever seen anyone as fast as him?

JD: I'm not sure that I have. The guy who comes to mind was Kenny Lofton, who of course would have played when Dee's dad was playing... Kenny had something like 60 steals the year of the strike, so he might have gotten to a hundred himself. You may not remember this, but Jack Morris was on that team, and Kenny would literally run circles around Jack when the team was jogging. I think Jack got a kick out of it, but it was always hard to tell with him.

AG: Even Ichiro has gotten into the act, with a couple of steals.

JD: (laughs) You bet. A great example of a guy who has really taken care of himself well over the years. I can tell you, I was not a threat to steal any bases at the age of 44.

AG: You and me both, Jerry, you and me both. So overall, the offense has tended to score enough runs to get it done in the early going. Talk to us about the pitching a little bit, what are you seeing out of the bullpen in the early going?

JD: Well, you saw some good days and bad days, didn't you? Friday and Saturday were great examples of exactly how we want it to go. On Friday, we saw Felix start to run into trouble in this third time through the order, and then Juan Nicasio, Mark Rzepczinski, Edwin Diaz and James Pazos just shut down the A's for the rest of the game.

AG: I wanted to ask you about that. A little bit unconventional usage of your closer Diaz, bringing him in in the seventh inning.

JD: Yeah, Scott and I have talked about that, and one of the things we are trying this year is being more flexible with our bullpen roles. We feel confident with any of our guys in late-game situation, but we really want to use our best weapon, Eddie, in the highest-leverage parts of the game. And sometimes that'll happen in the ninth, sometimes the eighth, sometimes you'll see him come in in the sixth inning. And we've talked to Eddie about that, and he is 100% on board.

AG: It worked beautifully in that game, and then in the next game, a team shutout, with Mike Leake going 5 1/3, and then Zep, Dan Altavilla and Nick Vincent going the rest of the way.

JD: Right. Mike was very good, and as we've talked about, we didn't want to hang him out to dry in the sixth inning even though he was working on a shutout. And all three of the bullpen guys were fantastic to close out the game.

AG: Things didn't go quite so well yesterday, with James Paxton somehow giving up back-to-back-to-back home runs, and then Juan Nicasio giving up a three-run game-tying homer to Matt Chapman.

JD: Yeah. The three homers in a row thing, I think you can chalk that up to if you play a million games against James Paxton, that will happen once, maybe? He was absolutely dealing the rest of the game, struck out nine, walked nobody. It was really disappointing for him. As for Juan, you know, he's been absolutely lights-out otherwise this year, so a disappointing blip, but we have absolute confidence in him moving forward.

AG: Ben Gamel has been playing well in Tacoma, I think you said he'll be joining the Mariners at this point?

JD: He's looked fine, has really come back nicely from the oblique strain. However, we're in a great position with plenty of good outfielders, and for now we've decided to keep him getting regular at-bats in Tacoma. He'll see plenty of time in Seattle this year, just not yet.

AG: Jayson Werth also playing great down in Tacoma.

JD: Yep. We were pleasantly surprised he was willing to accept a minor-league contract with us, and he gives us a bit more outfield depth should we need it.

AG: Jerry, we've got a little bit of listener mail for you. Today's question comes from Ellen in Portland, Oregon. Ellen writes: what do you expect from Erasmo Ramirez this year?

JD: We expect quite a bit. He's recovering well from his lat strain, and we expect him to start a rehab assignment this week. From there, we're hoping to get him back into the rotation in the next couple of weeks. Erasmo looked really good in the spring prior to the injury, so we're hoping to get 25-30 starts from his this season.

AG: We're heading into a trickier part of the schedule here. Four games at home against Houston, then down to Texas for the rest of the week. And really, a pretty unrelenting stretch, with 17 games in a row.

JD: Yeah. We sort of eased into the season, but we're in full swing now. None of these games are easy, that's for sure. I think this is where our depth will really start to pay off.

AG: Looking forward to heading to Texas later this week?

JD: It's a long road trip, 11 games, and I actually am going to stay behind so I can watch some of our minor league affiliates.

AG: Would you say you are more or less prone to make a trade during times you aren't traveling with the team?

JD: (laughs) When I am left to my own devices, I'm always at high risk to make a trade. But no, at this point we feel really good about the guys we've got, so I wouldn't anticipate any moves in the near future.

AG: Well, that pretty well wraps it up for The Wheelhouse this week. Thank you, Jerry, as always, for your time.

JD: Thanks Aaron, good to be here as always.

AG: We'll see you next week on The Wheelhouse.