[jaa36]

AG: Welcome back to The Wheelhouse, everybody. Once again, I'm Aaron Goldsmith, he's Jerry Dipoto.

JD: Thanks for having me, Aaron.

AG: Well, some big news in Mariners Land this week. Just three days ago, a press conference to announce Nelson Cruz's extension. I'm biased, but I am thrilled to have Nelson with the team for another two years.

JD: Likewise, Aaron. We've been working on the framework of this deal all season, and both sides kind of met in the middle for this one. We're thrilled to have one of the premiere sluggers in the league with us for the next two seasons.

AG: A two-year deal for $10 million a year, with the second year a team option with a $1 million buyout. Seems like this was a good way to keep the core of the offense together for another couple years.

JD: Right. Really we don't expect much turnover on offense these next few seasons, and obviously these guys have really clicked together this season. And Nelson's leadership is a big piece of this as well.

AG: Now, it would be easy to look at this deal and say, whoa, you're paying $10 million a year for a soon-to-be 38-year-old DH who's hitting .220 this season. Any worries that Nelson's productive days are over?

JD: You could look at it that way... but I don't think that would be a very honest way to think about things. Sure, he's only hitting .220, but he also has 16 home runs, which is fifth in the league. And I'd be surprised if his average isn't around .260 by the end of the season.

AG: Well, nice job, Jerry, on putting that contract together. We'll look forward to a few more seasons of the Boomstick hitting home runs in a Seattle uniform. Now, speaking of home runs, let's talk about Mitch Haniger a bit. Nelson Cruz has hit a lot of long home runs in his day. But what a week for Haniger against the Rays... A 467-foot home run on Thursday. Then 443 feet the next day, and 448 feet the day after that, which put the Mariners ahead to win. Overall, four home runs on the week. What got into Mitch?

JD: I think he got excited about playing with Nellie another couple years. (laughs) Yeah, he's seeing the ball really well. He's really built on a very successful season last year, and we're seeing an excellent combination of plate discipline, power, and defense, really exactly what we were hoping for when we acquired him and Jean Segura a couple of years ago.

AG: Now it wasn't all roses this week, especially the first couple games against Houston. The Astros handed the Mariners a 5-3 loss on Tuesday, and then an 8-2 defeat on Wednesday. That game featured the rare occurrence of the bullpen getting lit up. What happened there?

JD: It was a tough outing for both Edwin Diaz and Juan Nicasio. Edwin got out the first four batters he faced, but then gave up a double to Jose Altuve and a home run to Evan Gattis, both of which are not terribly surprising outcomes. And Scott was kicking himself after that, he had Juan up in the bullpen and figured out he'd be fine getting the last two outs, but Juan just did not have his good stuff that night and ended up giving up five runs and getting just one out before Nick Rumbelow was finally warmed up and ready to get the last batter of the inning.

AG: A pretty uncharacteristic outcome for what's been a very good bullpen this season. The other thing we should talk about is the game on Friday- this was the 4-3 loss to Tampa Bay. Two inside-the-park home runs in the same game for the Rays? Have you ever seen anything like that?

JD: (laughs) I can safely say that I have not. Unless you count Little League. Yeah, I don't know what was going on there. Greg Bird had an inside-the-park home run and a triple, and I don't think we'll ever see that again out of him. You saw Ichiro slide and miss the ball for one, and then kind of losing track of it, and the other one just came out of Mitch's hand funny once he got to it and for whatever reason the scorekeeper just didn't charge him with an error. Baseball is funny sometimes.

AG: Unfortunate the second homer ended up leading to the Rays tying the score and eventually winning the game. Well, back at Safeco this week. Anything we should be looking for in the series against the Angels or the Red Sox?

JD: Two pretty good teams, as you know, Aaron. We'll see Shohei Ohtani for the second time this year on Wednesday, and Mike Trout is doing his usual thing.

AG: Let's go for the mailbag here, Jerry. The question is from, oh, another Jerry, this is Jerry in Snohomish. Jerry asks, Jerry, do you see Felix's career in Seattle extending beyond next year?

JD: I sure hope so. Our owner John Stanton has made keeping Felix here a priority. We've got him under contract for next year, and after that, we'll see. I could see us ending up doing something similar to what we did with Nelson.

AG: It's really been a different stage of Felix's career these last few years. Felix really hasn't been a guy you see throwing seven or eight innings in a start anymore, but he's been pretty reliable over five or six innings this year. What do you expect from him the rest of the way?

JD: He reminds me actually a little bit of a guy we've mentioned on the podcast before, a guy I played with at the end of my career, Jack Morris. Someone that would have been a strikeout guy earlier in his career, now is relying more on location and deception but still getting good results.

AG: That kind of path would end up with Felix in the Hall of Fame, wouldn't it?

JD: Too early to say for sure. But certainly, with what he's done so far, and what we think he's still capable of doing, it's certainly possible.

AG: OK, Jerry. Any culinary plans for the week?

JD: I'm getting over to the Walrus and the Carpenter this week. Time for some oysters- it's been a while.

AG: Always one of my favorites. Enjoy, Jerry.

JD: Thanks, Aaron.

AG: All right. That's it for this week on The Wheelhouse. We'll see you next week.