[jaa36]

AG: Welcome back to The Wheelhouse. Once again, I'm Aaron Goldsmith, and Jerry Dipoto is here with me. Jerry, howya doin?

JD: Not bad, Aaron, I'm doing OK.

AG: It was not a bad month for the M's, another winning month, and the team's now 45-34 overall, which is just a game back of the Astros in the West, and good enough for a Wild Card spot for now. How's the team been doing it?

JD: Kind of our usual formula, I think, getting a few good innings out of our starting five and then going to the bullpen early in the game to close things out. It's really a recipe that's worked for us, and the bullpen has somehow been even stronger this year than last year.

AG: You're not kidding, Jerry. A 3.27 bullpen ERA the best in the American League. Edwin Diaz is on pace for another 100-inning season and has a 2.63 ERA. Jake Diekman has been lights out, with a 0.95 ERA in 38 innings. But neither of them quite compare to what we've gotten out of Juan Nicasio thus far- a 1.18 ERA in 53 1/3 innings, 80 strikeouts against just eight walks, and 2.5 WAR, which is actually second best in the American League.

JD: Juan has been spectacular. He was really solid last year in a high-leverage role, and this year everything has been clicking for him. It's really a four-headed monster in the bullpen this year between the three you mentioned and James Pazos, and we feel like we can match up against anybody in the late innings these days.

AG: Well, not to be lost in the amazing bullpen exploits would be the Big Maple, James Paxton, who won the American League Pitcher of the Month. Anything different with James this month?

JD: Well, not really, to be honest. He could probably win Pitcher of the Month a lot of months. This one he just happened to go 5-0. He's just a consistent ace, a guy we know who can give us six good innings, get a bunch of strikeouts, and we've got a really good shot whenever he's one the mound.

AG: Another guy I want to mention is Robbie Cano, whom I had sort of left for dead as he started to lose playing time to Tim Beckham. But Robbie has had a bit of a renaissance as the year has gone on, hitting .392 in June and now up to .319 on the season.

JD: He's just banged out a bunch of hits recently, putting the ball all over the field. That's always what Robbie's done, and I think people expected he would have lost some bat speed at this point, but it hasn't really affected him much to this point in his career. I am certain that good nutrition and hard work account for his success, and not performance enhancing drugs.

AG: Interesting comment, Jerry. Well, last month we talked about the struggles at first base, and a couple of weeks ago, you, being Jerry Dipoto, made a trade to fill the gap. Now, I'll remind you that at the time, you said that you might bring back Justin Smoak, but that he would probably instantly become terrible once you got him.

JD: (shifts his tie) I never said that, Aaron.

AG: You.. well, I could play you the tape, Jerry, you said it on the podcast...

JD: I think you're reading too much into the words I may or may not have said, Aaron.

AG: Well, there's no may or may not, you definitely suggested that Justin Smoak would be terrible and....

JD: I NEVER SAID IT! AARON, WOULD YOU GET OFF MY CASE ABOUT WHAT I SAID WHEN I DIDN'T...

AG: Jerry, man- take a breath. Use your skills...

JD: (pauses for several seconds) OK, Aaron. Let me put it this way. I can understand Mariner fans' concerns about having Justin Smoak back on the team. He was a festering sinkhole of crappiness for four and a half years in his last stint with the team. But, you know, he's a much better player now. He actually fits in well with our mindset of going after hittable pitches early in the count, and he's really figured out how to drive the ball in the last few years. I'll take a .290 hitter with 19 home runs any way I can get him.

AG: And to your credit, you really didn't have to give up much. Tony Zych also returned to the club, and going the other direction were Blake Snell, who had been acquired just two months before, and minor leaguer Luis Alcantara.

JD: And the best part was that the Blue Jays are paying his whole salary this year!

AG: Do the M's have more moves in them this year?

JD: We'll see, Aaron. We don't have a lot of wiggle room with salaries at this point, so we'd have to be pretty creative.

AG: Let's talk about the draft a little bit. First round pick was Jaden Brown, a high school infielder. What do you see in him?

JD: Really good hitter for his age, and can hold his own in the middle infield. We were very pleased he was still there midway through the first round of the draft and we were happy to jump on him.

AG: It was a very high-school heavy draft for you, though you weren't able to bring in a couple of guys who were asking for pretty hefty bonuses.

JD: Yeah, with Isaiah Bennett and Jacob Meador, we thought we were offering them enough to get a deal done, but it wasn't. Despite that, we do think we got a pretty good group of players into the fold this year.

AG: Well, why don't we go to a listener question. This next one comes from Casey in Sequim, Washington. The question is, what is Brock Holt's role with the team going to be?

JD: Thanks for the question, Casey. Yeah, we signed Brock as a minor league free agent, and he's been excellent so far. We can pretty much put him anywhere on the diamond to fill in, which gives us a bit more flexibility. For now we'll have him as a reserve, particularly in the outfield, and also a defensive replacement for Robbie when we have a lead.

AG: OK, Jerry. Well, let's wind things up here. Good luck as we head into the all-star break, and thanks for being with us.

JD: Thank you, Aaron, and talk to you soon.