Episode 10: Mariners Sign AJ Pollock, Giving Mariners Hitters A New Trait, And Carlos Correa Finally Finds A Home

00:00:00 Speaker 1: Welcome into episode number ten of the Marine Layer Podcast with TJ. Matthewson and Lyle Goldstein. On today's pod, we'll break down a couple of acquisitions by the Mariners this week. They signed Aj Pollock to a one year deal and acquire Justin Topa from the Milwaukee Brewers. We're gonna do a trait exercise like we did a couple of weeks ago, except we did pitchers last time. This time we're gonna do hitters. So we're gonna take a hitting trait from one Mariners player and give it to a different Mariner. We'll take a look around baseball with our MLB wrap Around. Raphael Dever signs an extension with the Red Sox, and third times the charm I guess with Carlos Correa. He has reportedly agreed to a deal with the Minnesota Twins. We'll close out the episode with speak your Mind. With that, let's get it rolling, and we welcome you into episode number ten ten episodes, Lyle of the Marine Layer Podcast. It's kind of it's gone by pretty fast. Who've you gotten this intro down? And? Yeah, ten episodes, that's about ten hours of content. Pretty good, I think I guess technically we throw an eleven as well with the taoscar episode, but you know, it kind of flies by and next thing you know, maybe we'll be at one hundred. 00:01:19 Speaker 2: That's the goal. It's pretty crazy to think it's been two months of doing this now, because we started the podcast about mid November, and I'd say it's been going pretty strong since then. It's been a blast. 00:01:29 Speaker 1: Really can't complain much like of what the Mariners did this week. We've been clamoring and I think me and you have sort of acknowledged over the last few weeks looking at the overall free agent spending. I don't know if we brought do we bring up that exact number on this podcast, I'm not sure, but I'm about to say it right now, because the Mariners for a number of weeks were the lowest spending team amongst them all in free agency, and we're sitting there looking at as like that doesn't look right, that doesn't look good. You can't have the Oakland A's spending thirty four times as much you in one offseason. But Mariners have broken that. They've signed Aj Pollock to a one year, seven million dollar deal. Shout out to the breakdown we did a couple of weeks ago. You can go check out episode number I wrote it down episode number seven, I believe where we broke down AJ Pollock and how he would fit on this Mariners team. But Aj, after turning down a thirteen million dollar deal, a thirteen million dollar option with the Chicago White Sox, has signed in Seattle thankfully. I like the move. 00:02:30 Speaker 3: I think it's pretty easy to like the move. 00:02:32 Speaker 2: I don't think there's going to be much disagreement among anybody about the move because, like we've talked about, is it the flashy signing. 00:02:39 Speaker 1: No? 00:02:39 Speaker 2: Did they go get Aaron Judge? No, But we knew they needed a right handed outfield bat to help Latune with Kealnick and at the very least somebody that's proven and somebody that can hit left handed pitching. Pollock does all of that, and we talked about he has crushed lefties his whole career. He crushed lefties last year. So this is a pretty seamless move for the Mariners and a guy that didn't cost all. 00:03:01 Speaker 1: We did break Okay, so we did break it down on episode number seven of this podcast. So if you want to go back, if you haven't listened to it, or you want to least re listen to why aj Pollock in much greater detail than what we'll do on this segment on why he'd be a good fit on the roster. You can go back and look at that because his numbers have not changed, so you can go check that out episode number seven of this podcast. I thought we did a pretty good job, but you're right. It gives an opportunity for the Mariners to a not give up on Jared Kelnick, but improve the offense and improve the overall position of left field and add in an an insurance policy essentially for your left fielders with a guy who is a former All Star and used to be a star center fielder slowed down a little bit, but you know, plays a pretty decent left field and most importantly crushes lefties, which you don't want to put Jared in there against, because Jared hasn't done very well against lefties in his career, but. 00:04:03 Speaker 2: He has done well against righty's, and that's been a big topic of conversation. Look, this is a small sample size, but just for what it's worth, that final stint Jared Kalnick had with the Mariners those last couple weeks of twenty twenty two. This is all against right handed pitching. He only struck out a little less than eighteen percent of the time, which is really good. He was walking just under eighteen percent of the time, which is really good. He put up an eight seventy nine ohps, really good, and a one fifty five WRC plus fifty five percent above league average, which is really good. If they just face him against righty's for now. Again, I think long term they want him playing every day, but if you can just start to ease him in, get his confidence back up where he's strictly facing righty's and he's mashing like that, that's a perfect solution because then you have Pollock to face the lefties. And if Pollack's really playing that well, we've talked about this team still needs a DH to so on days where there's right handers throwing, you could put Kellnick in left field and you could d H Pollock if you want to. 00:05:06 Speaker 1: And it's not like Pollock is bad against righty's in his career, because you know, first career, I mean he's I think it's like a one oh six WRC plus against righty's versus a one twenty nine career WRC plus versus lefties, so there's a little bit of a drop off, but career wise, aj Pollock is still pretty good against righty's. He just wasn't very good against rity's last year. Might be a little bit because he's getting up there in age, she's in his mid thirties as bad as slowing down. But if he finds a little bit of that juice back in his bat and he's hitting well against righty's, that would be a pretty good option. So I was kind of mapping it out Lyle. So if you're taking a look on how the Mariners outfield to look on righty's versus lefties next year or this sorry, this upcoming spring, this is how the Mariner's outfield will look this upcoming spring with the current roster right versus left. So if you have a righty on the mound, I'm imagining Kellennick and left field, Julio and center, Taoscar and right and then I put a question mark at DH because I still don't think we know, and I still don't think the Mariners know, which is why they say they want another bat versus lefties. You have Pollock and left field, you have Julio and center, you have I put Sam Haggerty in right field, and then Taoscar at DH because I think that's your lefty mashing crew right there. Sam Haggerty pretty good at hitting left handed pitching. 00:06:26 Speaker 2: Yeah, that seems right. And then Dylan Moore would probably be at second base on those days too, because that's another guy that's going to base a lot of lefties. But for the outfield, I think that makes sense. I think that's a pretty reasonable trio of outfielders you'd run out there against left handers. So yeah, that seems like a perfectly fine platoon. You're going to play guys to their strengths. 00:06:44 Speaker 1: And we look at this deal with aj Pollock, it actually comes out to about net even, to be honest, for what he turned out. So he turned down a thirteen million dollar option with the White Sox to hit free agency, probably assuming he was going to get a multi year deal. But I think some teams didn't really like his injury histories. Had a history of hamstring injuries, especially his last three trips to the aisle are all hamstring injuries, so that could slow him down a little bit. So the market probably wasn't what he thought, which is when you think about this in a vacuum, it's like, when was the last time a guy took like a one year a hitter took a one year proven deal in Seattle A few and far between, to be honest. But if you look at it overall, with that deal, so he opted out of his deal, so he gets a five million dollar buyout from the White Sox and then signed seven million with the Mariners. So you're netting twelve million dollars in salary total from the opt out plus the one year contract versus a one year thirteen million. So it's not really as stark as you think, but sort of interesting from AJ's standpoint. But it would make sense that he didn't that he, you know, was gonna get it because he probably didn't find the market that he wanted what I didn't know, which makes a little bit more sense. I'm sure Jerry's a big AJ Pollock guy, because Jerry's actually in the Diamondbacks front office in two thousand and nine when they drafted him out of Notre Dame in the first round. There had to sneak in Notre Dame their dog with the seventeenth overall pick. So it's good for Jerry as well. He gets to sort of reunite. 00:08:17 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a guy that fits their system again for all the reasons we've explained so far, along with the fact that and I really can't stress this one enough. He's he's by no means gonna win a Gold Glove in left field. But he is so much better than Jesse Winker playing defense. Plus four defensive run saved last year is perfectly fine. That's above average. Not like Jesse Winker, who when he'd see a ball rolling like ten feet to his right, he's like, well, I'll just let it roll to the wall and play off the wall. Now Pollack can play some real defense. 00:08:48 Speaker 1: It's just remind people Jesse Winker was the worst defensive outfielder in baseball last year by defensive run saved, and he played less innings than the guys you know he was around because again the last month and a half, Mariner said, you're not playing in the outfield. We literally came out, we're losing games because we have you on the outfield. 00:09:06 Speaker 3: Again. 00:09:06 Speaker 1: If you want to hear our full Aj Pollock breakdown, Episode seven of The Marine Layer podcast it's a good listen. It's about fifteen minutes to go. Listen here. You know how Aj Pollock really does fit in with this roster. 00:09:20 Speaker 2: Yeah, And the last thing I'll say before we transition here is maybe the best part about Aj Pollock that he got caught on camera last year catching that line out from Yuli Guriel and then telling him to fuck off. 00:09:34 Speaker 1: Uh. Yeah, it's good camera work there. I want to give that camera cameraman an award for catch in that moment. 00:09:40 Speaker 2: He's got some fire in them. This team needs some fire. I mean they've got some already, but the more the merrier, right. 00:09:46 Speaker 1: Well, we just complained so often how the Mariners as a franchise in the two thousands and the twenty tens didn't really have any fire because they would never like get in any altercations or any fights. Really, they wouldn't. The wouldn' be too chippy. Besides the richie sec like a richie sexon here in a Milton Bradley there. I mean, it really wasn't too much. And we're just bagging. It's like, please God, please, someone just someone start chirpman please, it's and it's finally happened a little bit. That's the one positive thing for Jesse. I thank him for that. 00:10:18 Speaker 2: Yeah, they tried to make up for twenty years of non fights with one scuffle against the Angels last June, but transitioning from some fire in the clubhouse to some fire on the mound. The Mariners made a trade as well as a free agent signing this week. They acquire right handed reliever Justin Topa from the Milwaukee Brewers. In exchange, they send minor league right handed Joseph Hernandez back to Milwaukee. Topa's probably going to be a project. He's thrown less than twenty big league innings for his career. He has a career or. He put up a four ninety one e in twenty twenty two. But as we know, when the Mariners make moves for some of these right handed relievers, there's usually something that warrants it, and I believe with Topa that's the case here. 00:11:03 Speaker 1: Yeah, as you mentioned, only under twenty career innings, and it's been a lot of injuries. He had a flexor ten and straight in twenty twenty one, and health has really been the name of the game for him. He's been an indie ball a couple of times. I mean he was drafted all the way back in twenty thirteen, a seventeenth round pick. He's been an indie ball a couple times, so he's been up and down. But if you look at the profile of him, it's it's pretty unique in it models itself after some successful types that we've seen. I'm just looking on Twitter of sort of of a guy we followed. Joe Doyle, who works at Prospects Live, says, you know, and the numbers really like what Justin Topa throws because we're looking at the profile. It's a really heavy fastball averages about ninety seven and a half miles an hour, and then a sweet being slider, a really true, nasty, sweeping slider. I went back and watched some of his highlights in twenty twenty when he had a two point three era. I mean, that thing really bites. So there's a lot of stuff to like it. And Joe threw out a comp for Topa. On the high end, it's Clay Holmes, who you know, has sort of a similar profile, is really good for the Yankees this year, but sort of a bowling ball, right handed three quarters sinker that is really hard to hit. 00:12:29 Speaker 2: If Justin Tova turns into Clay Holmes, etch him right in the back end of the rotation right now. 00:12:34 Speaker 1: I kN I mean, I'm down. I'm down. But I thought that was really intriguing. And it does seem like despite the amount of injuries he had and amount of up and down from the minors he's had, it's a lot to like. To be honest, I really was really liking what I was seeing same here. 00:12:50 Speaker 2: I mean, the first thing I thought of when I got to look at him is this guy's a Mariners reliever. And what I mean by that is he is bigger and probably stronger than players like Paul Sewald and Pen Murphy. But now what I mean by that is his fastball is firmer. He's six foot four, two hundred pounds. The other two guys are not that. But when you look at his profile like you talked about, he's got a fastball that serves more as a sinker and he's got a slider, so he's got a real two pitch mix, which is kind of the bread and butter of this Mariner's bullpen. And along with that, he's kind of got the deceptive delivery that's not right over the top. It's out of the unique arm slot you know he's got the he comes off the mound in an interesting way and it can be tough for hitters to pick up on. So there was parts of Topa that kind of reminded me of what Seawald and Murphy could be. 00:13:44 Speaker 3: Now. 00:13:45 Speaker 2: Topa may start this year in Triple A, but again comparing him to Seawald and Murphy, Paul Sewald started twenty twenty one in Triple A. He came up and was one of the Mariner's best relievers. Pen Murphy started twenty twenty two in triple A. He put up a sub three er last year. I think Topa could be kind of a similar story if everything clicks for him. 00:14:04 Speaker 1: And it's just been sort of how Jerry Depota likes to build bullpens, and we agree with this philosophy because it's been proven true the last two years. You don't really need to invest too much in your relievers because for the most part, relievers are very year to year. That's why you know a lot of people are against giving relievers big contracts because it's like, well and when Diez, you had a one three era this year, but two seasons ago, you are absolutely horrid, and we could see you being bad next year because hey, you'll leave a couple of fastballs over the middle of the plate, a guy puts a barrel on it, and all of a sudden, instead of a one to three era, you have a three to eight er, and you become that much less valuable. So when you look at what you want in a reliever, it's like, okay, So we know there's going to be so much variation while we're trying to track down relievers, why don't we just go after guys who we think with not the name, We're gonna look at the pitches, we're gonna look at the mold, and we're gonna look at what fits best for us. And what's fit best for the Mariners is hard fastballs and sliders. That's what their bullpen is built off of. That's what most major league bullpens are built off of, but especially the Mariners. If you look at the Mariners' current roster and what everyone on in their bullpen does well, it's throwing a good, whiffable fastball and throwing a sharp slider. And this qualifies. So if you're only going to give up a guy who's a top thirty prospect in your system. That is a twenty two year old in low a that you know, despite coming off a breakout year, Joseph Hernandez. We're talking to a friend of ours who works in the Mariners organization that's a pretty decent fan of Joseph Hernandez and saw him in the minor leagues last year. I mean, it's not like you're giving up too much, to be honest. So it is a very on brand Mariners move in terms of how they want to build their bullpen. 00:15:52 Speaker 2: Topa's going into his age thirty two season, like he talked about, he's on the older side, much like Seawall was when he came up in twenty twenty one. That doesn't he can't be effective either. Do we believe that between Justin Topa and Trevor Gott at least one of them is gonna hit and be successful. My guess is, yes, what do you qualify as a hit somebody that's effective in the Mariners bullpen? Do they have to be as good as sea Wall's been? No, but let's say they put up similar production to Penn Murphy or Matt Festa. 00:16:26 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean there's a pretty good chance. I mean there again both you know, both from the Brewers, and both offer things that are really sort of unique, So I mean there's a plus there. Yeah, Remember you have to replace what Eric Spwanson brought you last year. Even though Eric Swanson fell out of the postseason rotation or selection from the bullpen for some reason. Me and you still can't figure out that that's still a lot of production that's you know, a sub to eer and really just elite, elite, elite, elite stuff from from Eric Swanson, who's now going to be pitching for a rival because you got Taoscar Hernandez and they got Eric Swanson. And that's a big hole in your bullpen for something you really relied upon to win games for you last year. 00:17:13 Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think that between two of those or one of those two guys at least, they'll be able to fill that void. Because the Mariners have found relievers that have low value at face value, but in their eyes could be really productive. They've turned those guys into stars a year after year now, and I don't see why they can't do it again here in twenty twenty three. 00:17:34 Speaker 1: And we talk about Mariner's bullpen. It's not just these guys who have a potential to be a star in the Mariner's bullpen this year. There's still a lot of arms in the system which might not have a chance in the rotation that might get a chance in the bullpen. I mean, I would like I would say the odds loel are pretty good. We're going to see, along with these two editions Trevor Gott and Justin Topa, that we're going to see one of Taylor Dollard, Emerson Hancock or Bryce Miller in the bullpen this year and probably pitching a significant amount in the bullpen. 00:18:03 Speaker 2: Can I add one more name to that? Yeah, I wouldn't be shocked if we see Isaiah Campbell either. That guy will call you out in the bullpen in Double A this year. 00:18:11 Speaker 3: Yeah. 00:18:12 Speaker 1: And Isaiah Campbell a former starter, he's been stretched out. He's on the older side. But you know a guy they drafted in the second round, and he was in Logan's draft. He was drafted right behind Logan. I believe he's drafted the pick after. So that's another guy. And you're right, he's already been closing at the Double A level, so that could be interesting. So there's a whole bunch of things. We're gonna do some positional previews, I think in the coming weeks, and I would imagine the bullpen's going to get its own episode, because I don't think we're gonna say, hey, who's going to be the closer, who's going to be the set up guy. I think we're just going to group the whole bullpen together, and I think we can go into that a little more depth. But that's a bit of foreshadowing for what we're going to do here in the coming weeks, So let's keep this current. This isn't really foreshadowing, but we're gonna do an exercise that we did a couple of weeks ago which I really had fun with. So we did the pitcher version of this, where you take a pitch, you take someone's pitch from one Mariner's pitcher and give it to another Mariner's pitcher. And this time we're gonna do it with hitters and sort of hitting traits. So we're gonna take one trait from one Mariner's hitter and give it to a different Mariner's player to perform with. In the twenty twenty three season, Lyle what is your trait you're gonna give to a different Mariner. 00:19:28 Speaker 2: Okay, So I think this one is a little bit more realistic than the pitcher version of this that I did, which was trying to turn Marco Gonzales into Randy Johnson with Munoz's fastball. This one's a little more realistic, and it's one that I think the Mariners could really benefit from. I'm gonna take Dylan Moore's plate approach and ability to walk, and I'm gonna give it to Evan White. I think that's the first time we've mentioned his name on this podcast in our two months of recording so far. So yeah, remember that guy, Evan White. First round pick in twenty seven, He debuted in twenty twenty. He hasn't played in almost two years in the majors due to injuries, and he's really had a tough go of it through his first couple seasons. Well, part of that is because his career strikeout rate is nearly thirty eight percent in the big leagues, and this is a guy that really had no strikeout issues in the minor leagues. Evan White is a great defensive first baseman. He's got huge pop, his barrel, rates are off the charts. The problem is there is way too much swing and miss in his game at the big league level. But if you could take Dylan Moore's played approach a bit and give some of it to Evan White. With Dylan Moore being a guy that walked over thirteen percent of the time in twenty twenty two, all of a sudden, maybe Evan White has a chance to be a decent bat in the lineup. 00:20:45 Speaker 1: So you sent this over to me yesterday, and I had to suppress a left I honestly, I thought you were joking. I really thought you were joking, because I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, We're It's like, we're taking this seriously. I don't want to be joking around. But explained it to me a little. I was like, well, okay, I'll listen. So it is a really interesting proposition. Here's my one thing with this is this factoring in the fact that Dylan Moore also has a pretty high strikeout rate as well. 00:21:16 Speaker 2: It's not as high as you would think. 00:21:20 Speaker 3: What is it. I mean twenty nine percent? 00:21:22 Speaker 2: Okay, so it's above league average. But so I looked this up yesterday. You're right, it's twenty nine percent. But if Evan White was striking out twenty nine percent of the time, isn't that much better than the forty five percent of the time he was striking out in twenty twenty or the thirty eight percent strikeout rate for his career. I mean, if Evan White strikes out twenty nine percent of the time and he's walking thirteen percent of the time, Annie's playing good defense, Annie's crushing baseballs when he can acts, doesn't that have the chance to be at least like a two and a half win player. 00:21:56 Speaker 1: Does mold a little bit better? I will say that thought did been in my mind, though, I'm like Dylan Moore does strike out a little bit. But you're right, the big thing Evan White needs to fix is to stop striking out. I mean that that was his big crux. I remember when he came up. It's like, well he's you know, he's in the top percent of the league and hitting the ball hard. He just isn't hitting the ball very often. So that's the big key here. And notice you didn't use anyone's contact rate, because that's gonna be mine. We'll get to that here in a couple of minutes. So that one was already taken. But if you're gonna add another option, it's like, well, why don't you add the best walk rate on the team and Dylan Moore? And you know, kind of surprising for utility to guy like Dylan Moore to have that good of a walk rate, but you know, it'd be really good, and it'd be really good on Evan because that's what first baseman do. They crush baseballs and they get on base, and that's what that would do. And hey, if that formula could put Evan White with an on base percentage of three sixty eight like Dylan Moore's is, I think there would be a lot less people complaining about Evan White because the paranoia with me is that I think we're going to get the current version of Evan White on the roster if the Mariners don't get a d h here in the next you know, three four weeks before pitchers and catchers report, because I don't like that version of Evan White. This version of Evan White would actually be an impact player on the Mariners with his defense. I mean, he wouldn't even have to you know, mash thirty homers or twenty five homers. I mean, you could probably settle for fifteen to twenty home runs with you know, a three sixty eight on base percentage, and with the amount of power he adds, I mean, you could slug maybe four point fifty and that's you know, a two to two and a half three win player right there with his defense, and you'd say, yep, ty France, you're now a DH and Evan White can go to first. 00:23:45 Speaker 2: I mean, Evan White needs anything possible to help him get on base. If people don't remember, in twenty twenty one it was a short sample size because he only played thirty games that year. Evan White put up an ops plus of twenty three that season, which is seventy percent below league average. I'm not even sure how it's possible to get an ops plus that low, but he did. So whatever he can do to raise that ops and OPS plus you will take. And if that's taking Dylan Moore's walks, he'll take it because combine it with some home runs and some good defense over a full season can make to something. 00:24:25 Speaker 1: I'm gonna look up Abe Toros ops plus or a WRC plus here really quick, just so we can have some comparison. As you know, I watched Abe this year and I literally thought he was the worst player on planet Earth. He still managed a sixty two WRC plus this year and Evan White had a third of that. 00:24:45 Speaker 2: People like to, I mean, people like to get on Kellnick's case, and there is some warrant to it because he struggled his first couple of seasons. But it's been a while since people have seen Evan White on a big league field because it's it's almost night and day when you look at Kalnick compared to White, because Evan White a guy that was also not as good of a prospect as Kalnik was, but a good prospect and he really struggled. So if he could find any way to kind of find his form in twenty twenty three when he gets back on the field, would be great. And if it can start with some walks, that's a good place to start. 00:25:19 Speaker 1: And we don't know how healthy he is either, Like we haven't heard anything. It's kind of like Kyle Lewis, those first two Jerry Depoto first round picks, Kyle Lewis and Evan White, I mean, injuries galore. I mean, just haven't been able to really figure it out. I'm I would be okay if Evan White is a valuable baseball player on the twenty twenty three Mariners. But he has given me nothing to latch onto or hope or have any optimism that it'll actually do so. So I guess that's a spring training problem, which we'll get to what in about a month and a half from now, when pitchers and catchers report, Okay, my hit or traits. This one's fun. I'm gonna do JP Crawford's contact like contact rate JP Crawford's contact rate to Cal Raley, Man, what a baseball player that would turn into? So Cal this year struck out about the same amount as about he struck out about the same amount of time as Dylan Moore did twenty nine point four percent. JP Crawford, who ranks in about the top percent of baseball and like wiff rate and k rate stuff like that, thirteen percent cal Rally with a thirteen percent strikeout rate would be very elite? 00:26:39 Speaker 2: Is that just Johnny Bench? 00:26:42 Speaker 1: I did some comps. I want to hear the comps. Yeah, okay, so I did it. Comp by Cal's eggs of velocity is hard hit percentage and JP's strikeout rate, which is those numbers. Cal had about a ninety one average eggs of a forty three and a half hard hit rate, and then JP Crawford's thirteen point three percent strikeout rate. It's essentially twenty twenty two to one. Soto with a ninety one average exit velocity of forty seven percent hard hit rate and a fourteen point five percent strikeout rate. It's pretty good if you want to. 00:27:24 Speaker 2: Yeah, Soto, that catches I mean, yes, well, I. 00:27:29 Speaker 1: Was about to say, I did one more also a catcher a Lejandro Kirk ninety and a half exit velocity, forty five percent hard hit rate, ten percent strikeout rate. 00:27:39 Speaker 3: Yeah, that good, pretty good. 00:27:41 Speaker 1: That'd be pretty good for Cal and man, I mean, that's really the only hole in his game, and what keeps him low is that he just strikes out way too much. He's got, you know, a high wift rate, he chases a lot, and especially from the right side. He's just not really as good from the high rate from the right side. But if you give him, you know, JP's wing and miss for as much as we trash on Jp and I don't you know, I saw him working at driveline the other day. Credit to JP. Get that power up, get a better swing, because his swing mechanically towards the end of the year was really struggling. But the bat to of all skills in terms of just getting the bat on the ball is still pretty good. He makes contact with the best of them in baseball, and that's something cal Rawley would love. 00:28:23 Speaker 2: Look, cal Raley put up an ops plus of one twenty two this past year. That's really good. If he starts making contact at JP Crawford's rate and he starts to rack up some more hits as time goes on. Because again we don't really care about batting average on this podcast, but just for reference, Riley hit two eleven this year. If two eleven all of a sudden turns into two thirty five or two forty, and you're talking about cal Raley being far and away the best catcher in baseball between his power, his plus defense, and then all of a sudden, if he's making more quality contact, it's. 00:28:56 Speaker 3: Through the roof. 00:28:59 Speaker 1: And he you know, you know, I probably can. I don't know who do you consider the best pure power hitter on the Mariners, Julio or Cal I mean, it's. 00:29:08 Speaker 2: I think pure power raw power, it has to be Julio. 00:29:12 Speaker 1: H Yeah, I would probably say so. But I mean in terms of pure production, Cal put up about two hundred less at bats than Julio did this year and had the same amount of home runs. So from an efficiency standpoint, I mean Cal does not struggle to hit him out of the ballpark. He you know, led all catchers with twenty seven home runs in just four hundred and fifteen played appearances and led the entire Mariners team in isolated power. So you add on JP, who have, by the way, had the second lowest ISO but the highest contact rate and lowest strikeout rate amongst Mariners players, to Cal. It's pretty deadly combo. I can't complain. 00:29:49 Speaker 3: Let's see it. Let's see it. 00:29:51 Speaker 2: Give JP's contact rate to Cal and let him go out and finish as the runner up as the twenty twenty three AL MVP on behind Julio. 00:30:01 Speaker 1: So what do his extension look like? As we were talking about last week, if that was it, I mean, we're we're you know, we're probably talking he's cracking three hundred million dollars if that's the case. 00:30:11 Speaker 2: With Scott Boris as his agent. Yeah, he's getting like eight years for two fifty at least. 00:30:18 Speaker 1: Man, I mean, this is a really fun experiment. I really do enjoy doing this because we can really dream about this about how good cal could possibly be. Cow will never strike out just thirteen percent of the time for the amount of over the fence power that he has, but it's cool to speculate about. 00:30:35 Speaker 2: I will say, one can dream. And let's just say this. If you're listening and you have any hit or traits that you want to take from a Mariner and give you another Mariner, let us know, go follow us on Twitter at marine Layer Pod and tweet us your answers. What Mariner trait do you want to see given to another player? Because it is a fun exercise and I've enjoyed doing this too, because it's fun to dream and one can dream. Let's move on here to our MLB wrap around Well, TJ, We've got pretty brand new news as early as today, third times a charm, like you said in the open for Carlos Korea, we think he has finally found a team and we believe this saga is over. Reportedly, Carlos Korea is returning to the Minnesota Twins on what is a six year, two hundred million dollar contract. It can max out at ten years for two hundred and seventy million dollars. Is it finally over? 00:31:39 Speaker 1: Well, we were just talking about experiments. I think Korea was experimenting with teams here in free agency. We will never see this again, we will not. He has now agreed to contracts with three separate teams in one offseason. I mean, I'm just glad it's over, because we're we're sitting here for the last couple of weeks. Like, Okay, Karrey gonna sign. He said he was gonna sign, but he hasn't. He turns down thirteen for three fifty from the Giants. He was sorry. Let me reword that. Actually the Giants turned him down essentially thirteen for three fifty after his medicals came back. They didn't like an ankle surgery he had when he was in the minors. In twenty fourteen. The Mets had the same cold feet with a twelve year, three hundred and fifteen million dollar deal. But the Twins, who knew about as much about Korea's medicals as anyone except the Houston Astros, knew this probably all along, and they said, going into this offseason, they didn't want to crack three hundred million dollars on a deal, and what do you know, all the dominoes fall right in their lap and they're able to get Korea for two hundred million dollars over six years. I hope Jerry offered that, I really do. I don't think he did, but man, I hope he did, because like these, the opportunities like this do not happen. They do not. We're a guy who's supposed to get a decade long contract, has stuff fall through to the point where you could sign him not into his forties. 00:33:13 Speaker 2: I'll respond with two things. First off, yes or no, I'll ask you, is this the most ridiculous free agent saga we've ever seen from one specific player. My answer is yes. 00:33:25 Speaker 1: I mean, this is stuff you would see in the NBA, Like literally this is this is Blake Griffin and Doc Rivers going over to DeAndre Jordan's house and locking him in there until he signs a contract. That's what this is. 00:33:39 Speaker 3: It really is. 00:33:40 Speaker 2: The Second part of that is how this ties into the Mariners. I would have loved to hear and would love to find out that Depoto offered that deal to Korea. I'm with you, I don't think they did. But would Korea take that exact contract to go to the Mariners. I think the Mariner's still would probably have to overpay to go get him, because you know, he just played with the Twins, he has friends on that team, he knows the organization. I feel like if the Mariners wanted to get Korea, they would have had to offer more. 00:34:13 Speaker 1: And we heard a lot from Ryan Davis this offseason that he didn't think the Mariners would offer for Korea just because that guys in the clubhouse don't like him in the Mariners clubhouse, based on a lot of things the Astros did over the years, the cheating scandal in twenty seventeen, he said, there's still a lot of guys there really just don't like Korea and think he's cocky and don't like a whole number of things. But us as fans, I mean, just logistically makes sense. I would have done six for two thirty as well. I don't know what how much of an overpay you gotta get to get him here, but six for two thirty bumps his his aav up, you know to what thirty? Some quick math there do do we have some quick math, will bust out some quick math, you know, two thirty divided by is let's see here, some slow math here, thirty eight million dollars a year would have done it. Can afford it. We believe they can afford it. But again didn't. Don't really think that contract was offered, so it is unfortunate he would have fit. It would have been great, but we could just shrug at this point. 00:35:26 Speaker 3: I would have done it. 00:35:27 Speaker 2: I absolutely would have given him six years for two thirty eight. But if it is about a clubhouse thing and players really didn't want him there, I still feel like that in time, if he was playing as well as he has throughout his career, players probably would have gotten used to him. You know, you hear about some clubhouse issues from guys from time to time. We heard it about Jesse Winker this year. Well, Winker also wasn't playing that well. I feel like some of this stuff with Korea could have been patched up if he was the best player on the team or second best player behind Julio. 00:35:59 Speaker 3: But iy, we'll never know. 00:36:02 Speaker 1: This is such a win for the Twins because, as I mentioned earlier at the beginning of the off season, they said they were not they wanted to resign Karay, but they were not going to go north of three hundred million dollars. At the beginning of the offseason, they offered him ten for two to eighty five, which I thought was kind of funny at the point because we knew we were gonna he was gonna a healthy Karay is going to get more than that. Uh. He turned that down. But it turns out with the vesting option in this contract, it could end up being ten years per two seventy. So the essentially the Twins have saved fifteen million dollars off their original offer, and if everything checks out, he could be there a decade, making twenty seven million dollars a year. So kudos a Midwest team making a big signing. Something that is rare nowadays. 00:36:49 Speaker 2: Is rock Oballdlli still going to hand him the broken roll X? I really hope, So, I don't know, You'll have to ask him. Here's here's what Carlos Korea needs to do. So, assuming this deal finally gets done and it becomes official and he has his press conference, he needs to sit down and his opening statement needs to just be word for word the squidward lines from SpongeBob where he goes. 00:37:14 Speaker 3: I was just kidding, come on, come on, you. 00:37:17 Speaker 2: Guys know I was just kidding, like in terms of Oh, I was never gonna leave the Twins. 00:37:22 Speaker 3: I wanted to be here all along. 00:37:25 Speaker 2: That's that's what he's got to do, because what else is he gonna say when they ask, well, why did you like all these teams over the Twins? Why'd you like the Giants over the Twins, and then the Mets over the Twins, and then now you come back. I feel like he should just kind of try to make a lighthearted joke out of it. 00:37:40 Speaker 1: Which he probably will. We might that we'll probably get some quotes with that when spring training rolls around. So let's let's mark down like the official docket of Corea's offseason. They had one one team announce a press conference for him. A separate team's owner talked about him on the record publicly wanted that he was very excited to have him on their roster, and he signs with neither of them not unlikable. That is really unli We will never see this again never. It is absolutely insane. But what's most funny about this? Twins deal. When the tweet comes from Jeff pass and that he's signed the deal, it still says pending a physical, which is the other two were also pending a physical that wasn't able to wasn't able to get hammered out. Funny stuff. Nonetheless, another big name gets signed, not to a free agent deal, but a long term extension for Rafaeld Devers eleven years, three hundred and thirty one million dollars to stay with the White Sox. Last week, he agreed for a seventeen million dollar deal to BIOUTUS arbitration this year, and now he will be with Boston for the foreseeable future. A move personally as like this is literally the only move you can make. You can't let Rafael Devers walk out the door in free agency, and the Socks ownership group stepped up and banked him three hundred and thirty one million dollars. 00:39:07 Speaker 2: Third times a charm for the Red Sox too. They didn't keep Mookie, they didn't keep Xander Bogarts, but they do keep Devers, and Devers is only going to be twenty six years old. So yeah, it's a thirteen year deal, three hundred and thirty one million dollars, but he is essentially a Red Sox for life. He is the face of the franchise. He is a guy that I believe is on a pretty short list in terms of best hitters in baseball. I would put him somewhere in that top fifteen range. And the Red Sox couldn't afford to let him go. He is too valuable and they've let too many other guys go at this point to let him go. They had to do everything possible to keep him in town, and they did. 00:39:46 Speaker 1: And with a big market like Boston, you're really just kind of shocked the fact they let two franchise cornerstones just walk. But if you think about it from this point, with both Bogarts and Endeavors going to be free agents this offseason, or Bogart's this offseason Devers next offseason, it's like, well, you got to keep at least one. I do think they paid the right guy. You paid the younger guy, you paid the better hitter. He sucks on defense, Like, let's just be honest. Devers is probably gonna end up at first base. But you know, Xander's not going to age very gracefully at shortstop for as big as he is, and we already talked about his defensive numbers, which aren't fantastic. So you know, if they're like, okay, we're only going to pay one of these guys, I think made the smart investment here. I don't really think it was that hard of a decision. 00:40:33 Speaker 3: Not at all. 00:40:34 Speaker 2: Devers has had three top fifteen MVP finishes in four years. He's made back to back All Star Games. He has a Silver Slugger. His ops plus has been above one thirty three of the last four years, and it was a career high at one forty one in twenty twenty two. That's the guy you pay and keep long term, no questions asked. 00:40:54 Speaker 1: And you know, he's really kind of historically you mentioned just the overall like ops plus numbers if you look at but you know, third baseman before turning twenty six, he has the sixth most homers one hundred and thirty nine in the fifth most extra base hits of any third baseman before turning twenty six. It helps he's been in the league since he's in nineteen twenty. I think he debuted when he was nineteen's but twenty I think, yeah, But I mean he's he came up at a really young age and he's really just blossomed. So it's good. It's good for Boston that they stay there and people cannot freak out, although they're gonna need his bat more now than ever. With some other news that came out today, Lyle. 00:41:33 Speaker 2: Yeah, Trevor's story, I mean that was some tough news. He had surgery to repair what was a damaged you seel on his elbows. So the reported timetable is four to six months with that surgery for when a player can come back. So yeah, that was kind of tough news for the Red Sox. I mean, it's good they locked up Devers when they did, because again, Trevor story is probably gonna miss some time. If you want the exact terminology, he underwent ucels surgery with an internal brace on his right elbow, or in other words, modified Tommy John surgery with a quicker return date. That's tough news for Boston. 00:42:12 Speaker 1: And if I you know, even with his extension and the good joy around the Red Sox, look at that roster and I think they're finishing in last And I don't even think that's really tough to make that statement. 00:42:25 Speaker 2: I would agree and I think this is kind of a win for people that were against the Trevor story signing in Seattle last year. Cause I'm just gonna throw this out there again. I know it's always a debate between Mariners Twitter, and it's a debate that is never going to be resolved because people are so firm on their opinions. What a lot of Mariners fans would be happy to do what the Red Sox are doing, sign Yoshita, sign Trevor's story last year. Guys like that Trevor's story is not panning out so far, Yoshida's unproven. Like the Mariners are in a position to pay and extend a lot of their own guys, and that may be the better route than some of these free agents because Trevor story never hit well away from Coors Field. There were questions about his injury history and his elbow, specifically last year when he signed. And now it's come back to bite the Red Sox in the rear end. Like, you know, I think the Mariners might know what they're doing. 00:43:17 Speaker 1: Sometimes you make a solid point, but then the same marin apperance could also point to the twenty eighteen Red Sox alas you know, a very young core there with with movie Bets, Devers, Bogarts, et cetera. But they also, you know, shell out a lot of money for a designated hitter and JD. Martinez that they really needed to their lineup. And if you remember the twenty seventeen Red Sox, they were a pretty good team, but they didn't have enough offense. So they went out and they signed the best bat on the market, and then they turned around and won a World Series. So I guess you could look at that for multiple ways. 00:43:49 Speaker 3: Fair point. 00:43:51 Speaker 2: I'm just providing one perspective, that's all. I saw some people talking about it today. 00:43:54 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean you make a solid point, especially with story. I think the one that got away, which is for a lot of teams, is you know, despite the back he got seven years, it's Marcus Simeon. I mean, you think if that's that's when we're gonna lose sleepover. I think that's that's the one we can agree on. 00:44:09 Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean there's not a day that goes by that I don't wish Marcus s emon was on the Mariners, but the Rangers paid him a whole lot more than the Mariners were willing to offer. So that's a topic in itself. Final topic here on the MLB Wrap Around. The Phillies made a trade this week left handed relieve. Let's do that again. Left handed reliever Gregory Soto traded from the Tigers to the Phillies. Soto goes to the Phillies along with Cody Clemens, Nick Maton, Matt Bierling. Donnie Sans go back to the Tigers. So Gregory Soto has an interesting profile. He's a hard throwing left hander that's made back to back All Star Games. But is he really that great of a reliever. I'm not sure how well this trade works out for the Phillies. 00:44:54 Speaker 1: What do you think, Well, he's been an All Star because the Tigers have no other good players on the roster pretty much, so he's the default when you know, every team's got to have one, so you just let you go default, you go reliever usually, So SODA's interesting. I mean, if you sort of look at the build, he's kind of similar to Jose Alvarado, who's just an absolute stud with the Phillies, except Alvarado gets way better results. Soto throws about, you know, ninety eight fastball sinker from the left side. And throws a slider to which doesn't really profile that well. It's it doesn't move a whole lot and it gets hit around the ballpark a little bit, as opposed to Alverado, who you know pretty much only throws hard stuff, you know, sinkers and it really works well. But both you know, big hard throwing lefties and the Phillies probably just see something there they can develop a little bit. And to be honest, they didn't have to give up that much. I mean, I don't know a whole lot about the other the other guys that you know we're traded here, but I don't really have to give up too much, to be honest. 00:45:57 Speaker 2: The Tigers basically just got some versatile piece is back in return now to be fair in a short sample size, this year, Mayton actually had a good year. He put up a one thirty eight oh ps plus across thirty four games. Vierling wasn't great. He had a good start to his career, but his first full season didn't go all that fantastically. But the Tigers just kind of need anything at this point. Trading Gregory Soto makes sense for them because whether he finds his form again and has a really good twenty twenty three or not. A reliever is not going to make or break that team. They're way too far away from contention, so trading him to a team that can use some bullpen help makes sense. Again, My only thing with Soto is he put up a three twenty eight ERA this year. Sure, but his XCRA was four oh eight, his x FIP was four fifty eight, his K per nine was below nine. Hopefully, for the Philly's sake, they can kind of unlock some things with them and find his best form. Because he is a hard throwing left hander, that's for sure, but I think he is not as great as what meets the eye of a casual fan. 00:47:01 Speaker 1: Well, whenever you have a left he throws ninety eight, of course you're gonna be like, well, there's there's gonna be something to work with here, And maybe the Phillies changes slider grip or something, and all of a sudden he has a devastating slider opposed to the one he normally throws. It's just kind of odd a left you throws ninety eight to have such a low K for nine. But again, maybe the Phillies just think there's, you know, something there. They can unlock. I always love to think about this, Lile. The Mariners started the rebuild after the Tigers did like a full season after the Tigers started their rebuild, essentially, and the Tigers don't seem any closer to breaking five hundred as the Mariners are to you know, reaching the Divisional Series next year, which I you know, I sometimes pause and think about that. So there's something to be thankful about. 00:47:50 Speaker 2: Again, there's a lot of people out there that still like to give Jerry to Poto a hard time when you look in perspective of this rebuild. They had one really awful year in twenty nineteen. In twenty twenty, yes they were below five hundred, but by technicality they were in playoff contention in twenty twenty, and that. 00:48:09 Speaker 3: Was really it. 00:48:10 Speaker 2: They really only had one terrible year in twenty nineteen because they won ninety games in twenty one, barely missed the playoffs, won ninety games in twenty twenty two, made the playoffs, and things are only looking up from here. So that rebuild went unbelievably fast. There are teams like the Tigers, There are teams like the Marlins. There are teams like the A's who are not rebuilding all that well. The Mariners did it pretty well. 00:48:34 Speaker 1: And I think too many teams look at the Astros model and say, yeah, we want to do that, we want to do that. The problem is you need to have the number one overall pick I think three of four seasons what it was for the Astros, four straight hundred lost seasons. That hurts you financially so much, and I mean, yeah, just wouldn't fly in a lot of places. So it's just kind of a hard sell with the Tigers, whether intentionally or not, I mean or not getting not getting very close to contention. So there's a couple of things to be thankful for. I'll throw the Royals in there too. They're doing the same thing where it's just like wins just aren't there. So it's interesting and I think Gregorysoto in Philadelphia is going to be interesting at as well. Let's close out the show now with Speak your Mind. 00:49:23 Speaker 3: Speak your Mind, spoke. That would be unwise. What is necessary is never. 00:49:33 Speaker 1: Unwise, kay Lyle. For this week, what is on your mind? 00:49:39 Speaker 2: Okay, I've got too. I'll start with one and the first one is just I'm so tired of the rain. You would think living my whole life in Seattle, you'd get used to it, but when you hit the dog days of winter, I mean, you're just so ready to be done with it. It's just it's such a mood killer. I think you were always more tolerant, you were more tolerant of the rain than I've always been. But it just kills me every year, and I'm just itching for the days where one it's not dark this early, and two it's not just raining all day long, because I've had enough of it. 00:50:14 Speaker 1: I think I felt I think it was a little worse with it last year. I think last year was the first winter I'd really spent living alone, not in college and not at home, so it probably hit a little bit harder. I honestly haven't you know, I missed the sun. But it really hasn't been as bad I've thought this year. And you know, we live in similar climates. I live four hours south of you now, so it's you know, it is similar. But honestly, you know, I kind of like rain when I when I try and fall asleep, so I can't complain complain they're too much. 00:50:44 Speaker 2: I guess, I mean, maybe it's easier to fall asleep to the rain, but throughout the day when you'd love to just step outside or really do anything, just makes it kind of hard. 00:50:55 Speaker 1: Luck you. Doug will be in Arizona in a month. So there's your sun. 00:51:00 Speaker 3: Well, that sounds nice. 00:51:01 Speaker 1: Get the sun. Are you practicing your golf swing? 00:51:04 Speaker 2: Well, I might have to start. But again, if it's raining all the time, when am I going to do that? 00:51:08 Speaker 1: So we're supposed to play a par three as a group, we're gonna probably I think we're gonna in our speaker mind segment the week after a while, I think we're gonna have to do a breakdown of how we shot on the golf course, because I'll tell you, I have not swung a golf club on grass in a long time, so we might have a lot to break down. 00:51:29 Speaker 2: Okay, I'm I'm okay. I played a decent amount during the COVID days, but it's been a while since I've played. I think I'll be I'm not gonna be good, but I feel like I won't have to come on here and say that I shot at two hundred or anything like that. 00:51:43 Speaker 1: So if there's water, my ball is going in it. I almost promise it it's either going in the water or it's not getting off the ground. Yeah, so I'm you know, maybe I'll practice. Maybe I'll go get some putt putt in and practice sort of the rotation and then just adapt it for adapted for a like a pitching wedge on a par three. 00:52:03 Speaker 3: Well, there we go. 00:52:04 Speaker 2: Like I said, Well, we'll definitely have to do a report on it. I hope I'm not jinxing myself here. I think I'll be fine to hold my own. But that'll be a fun report in about four or five weeks. 00:52:14 Speaker 1: Yeah, hopefully we don't have anything for the loser, because I would really be worried for myself because I don't want to do anything stupid because I'm shitty at golf. My first speak your mind. This week, I've spent a lot of time not on this podcast, but in general trashing the Corevallis food scene. I live here in Corvallis, and I spent time just saying, you know, I think the food kind of sucks here, and that's why, you know, I look forward to going home and eating food in, you know, a bit in a bigger city, because there's just better food in bigger places. But you know, I've made it a point to try and go out and eat every Saturday and go try somewhere new, and I'm honestly, you know, that's probably what I needed to do, because I've honestly found some pretty good food, So you know, hat tip to that. 00:53:00 Speaker 3: So what have you found? 00:53:01 Speaker 2: I know your go to place is that Korean barbecue place, but Hawaiian barbecue or Hawaiian barbecue. Yeah, that's usually what you're reporting on, and I don't get to hear much else. 00:53:10 Speaker 1: Yeah, I've been to a couple burger places. You know, kind of hard to screw up a burger, so those those places were pretty good. I went to a deli two weeks ago or three weeks ago because of Christmas. Yeah, the Hawaiian barbecue. 00:53:24 Speaker 3: You know. 00:53:24 Speaker 1: My number one's Chipotle obviously, actually, but I haven't been to Chipotle hot seat. Chipotle was since they started charging for like double rice and double beans and such, which is just an absolute abomination that you charge like a dollar and a half for extra rice. So I probably won't be going to much Chipotle then anymore, with their already skimpy servings. 00:53:45 Speaker 2: I mean, I do think that's I do think that's some bullshit, But why don't you just get the single rice and not do double rice. 00:53:53 Speaker 1: Because sometimes I want something more filling without paying for extra protein. 00:53:58 Speaker 3: All right, fair enough, because. 00:53:59 Speaker 1: I could pay for like double chicken, But then I'm like, you know, paying eleven dollars for a bowl, and I'm like, well, double rice is free, and it like gives the impression to your body that you're actually eating more without like adding on too many more calories. So I don't know it is good, But I got some more places to try here, so I'll try and make the rounds and I'll report back if anything is exceptionally shitty or exceptionally good. 00:54:25 Speaker 2: Well, I'm looking forward to hearing about it. Let's put it like that. Okay, Second, speak your mind. I think we're about to go both go sports related here, which we do a lot, but you know what, we're in the season where there's a lot of sports going on. The Seattle Seahawks, the team that, like we've talked about on this podcast we are also a fan of, along with the Mariners, pulled off what was pretty ara, What was pretty oh my gosh, oh my goodness, I can't speak today. What was really a miraculous Sunday in what was a situation where they needed to win and have the Lions win to get into the playoffs. Both happened. The Seahawks win in overtime against the Rams at home in what was a nailbiting final game of the season. And then on top of that, the Lions go into Lambeau Field against Aaron Rodgers in a game and type of situation in which he almost always prevails. The Lions win that game, and just like that, the nine and eight Geno Smith led Seahawks in their first season without Russell Wilson are going to the playoffs. That's pretty cool. 00:55:31 Speaker 1: And at the end of that Lions game, I mean, the Lions score touchdown and they go up I think four points. They were up four points I think, and then Rogers on the hes takeing the field on his final drive, the cameras following right behind him, that NBC camera. I'm like, well, he's gonna drive him down. They're gonna take the lead on a touchdown and LLL and I are gonna be disappointed by watching that happen. And he throws a pick on the second play in that drive, Like, whoa, this is actually real and then the Lions go down the field and ice it. I remember how I felt in March, man, I mean, I was like, when are we gonna make the playoffs again? It's like I don't know, and like the roster's bad. We don't have a quarterback. Man, It's just like what, like what what's next? Like, I don't know. It was so dark. It was so dark. And now the Seahawks not only will be making the playoffs, they'll be picking number five in the draft thanks to the Russell Wilson trade. I think there's a pretty clear winner on that, on that Russ trade. As we were like, man, what do the Seahawks have to do to win this trade? I think they've managed to do that. In year one. They're gonna be playing in the one thirty window on Sunday and Russell Wilson's gonna have to sit on his couch and watch from afar. 00:56:47 Speaker 2: Wait do they not play Saturday? I thought it's Saturday. 00:56:49 Speaker 1: Oh did I say Sunday? It's Saturday? 00:56:51 Speaker 2: Sorry, okay, Yeah, I just wanted to make sure I had my own schedule, right. Yeah, that is a fun scene to think about that he's gonna sit down and say, yeah, that's the team I wanted to leave. I am still a little sad, and now I'm totally nitpicking. Just full disclaimer, I am totally nitpicking that the Seahawks lost the ability to pick third and move to fifth because the chances that Jalen Carter, Will Anderson and Anderson see much lower now. But that being said, if you told us the day Russ got traded in March that don't worry. The Seahawks are still making the playoffs and the Seahawks are gonna pick within the top five thanks to the Broncos. We'd be like, this is the greatest day of our whole life. 00:57:33 Speaker 1: And just the way it happened to you beat the Rams to get to that ninth win shot, You've never been able to beat Sean McVay, who, by the way, might have just coached his last game in the NFL on Sunday, rumors galore about him retiring. I mean, if you're able to, you know, you get your top five pick, Sean McVay retires, and then you play a playoff game where you could potentially upset the San Francisco forty nine ers, your arch rival. Within the span of like two weeks. I mean, wow, I mean I'll take it. 00:58:06 Speaker 3: That's pretty good. Now. 00:58:08 Speaker 2: I think the odds of the Seahawks winning are pretty low. That Niners roster is loaded, but it is hard to beat a team three times on a season. So we'll keep our fingers crossed. 00:58:17 Speaker 1: Yeah, we will. It'll be interesting. And the weather is supposed to be rainy and crummy. There's been a ton of crummy weather in California this last week or so with that storm coming in off the Pacific Ocean. So never say never. If it muddies down, everyone slows down. The game gets tighter. So we'll never say never. All right, now to the other football for my final speaker, mind, there was a quote I said when I was home New Year's Day ten days ago, our New Year's Eve. Actually, technically, Lyle and I are sitting in my house and we're watching the playoff games, and it's Georgia Ohio State, and this is going to be this is essentially an apology to Stetson Bennett, Georgia quarterback now back to back two time national champion. Stetson through a pick in the first half of that Ohio State Georgia game in the semi Final, and I got up off my couch and I screamed at the twenty five year old seventh year quarterback, I think seven years yep, get a job. At the top of my lungs, I think I might have said, get a fucking job stets invented. But Stetson from that point outscored Ohio State, let it go ahead, touchdown drive, and put down one of the biggest beatdowns I've seen on any team, regular or postseason in any sport. Ever. Yesterday during the National Championship, sixty five to seven, the largest margin of victory of any National championship or any bowl game period in the history of college football, all led by Number thirteen in red. Salute to you, Stetson, Benett. I know you're gonna enjoy your five car dealers ships that you own across the state of Georgia, and you won't have to work the rest of your life. 01:00:07 Speaker 3: I mean, that was an absolute beat down on Monday night. Again. 01:00:12 Speaker 2: Well like TCU, I mean, you feel bad because they'd had such a good year and they had such a good win over Michigan, but we had a feeling it wasn't gonna be close. I don't think anybody thought it was gonna be like that. In fact, you said at the start of the game, Georgia might put up sixty, and then in the fourth quarter you're like, wait, I was kidding when I said that. No, They're actually gonna put up sixty. 01:00:37 Speaker 1: And they could have put up eighty if they wanted to, if they like actually kept their foot on the gas. I mean, they had sixty five with their backup quarterback in the game in seven and a half minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. If they wanted to, they could have scored. They could have scored eighty points, which is just my numbing to think about. This isn't a college football podcast, but I guess my main takeaway from this game is we're gonna need we need if people really care about the postseason of college football. I don't know what the solution is, but something would need is going to be need to be done to disperse the talent a little bit, because as it is right now, as it is, but you know, this is a college football problem exclusively, not basketball or baseball. Really, there's too much talent at the top, too much because then we get we get stuff like this. This should not happen in a championship game of any sport, and yet it did happen. And there's nothing that anyone on TCU could have done for this to happen. So that just a quick thought there. I mean, it needs to disperse a little bit. I don't know the solution, but props to you Stetson Bennett. Props to you Georgia back to back national champions the first time since Bama a decade ago. 01:01:49 Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm gonna be honest. 01:01:50 Speaker 2: My final thought here is of quarterbacks like Hendon Hooker Michael Pennox who were not nominated for the Heisman, like Stetson work. We're playing on Georgia. Yeah, it would have been not just the same result, it could have been better. Like those guys are better quarterbacks than Stetson is. 01:02:07 Speaker 1: Yeah, but I will like I will say, I've been very impressed with how Stetson Bennett his play. He is a very good college quarterback and he runs that Georgia system very well, very well. He does everything he's asked. And who knew? Another one more thing? Who names their son Ladd l A D. D. The wide receiver for Georgia Ladd McConkie. I mean, what what what could you imagine that guy does for a living. If you said, Okay, here's a Ladd mcconkee. 01:02:37 Speaker 2: It's got to be a nickname, right, No, that's his name, is it really? That's that's his legal name. 01:02:46 Speaker 1: I'm almost certain. 01:02:48 Speaker 3: Yeah, that's that's wild. 01:02:52 Speaker 1: And he's their leading wide receiver too, which I think is funny. 01:02:56 Speaker 2: Yeah, that Georgia team was unbelievably good. Like you said, hat tip to send some minute good college quarterback back to back national champion. Meanwhile, for us, that'll just about wrap up this edition of the Marine Layer Podcast. If you guys want to continue to follow us, you can listen to the full podcast on Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon, or get the video version on YouTube. If you want to follow us on social media, we're on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and again YouTube. We do a bunch of YouTube shorts. You can follow all of our channels across those platforms at Marine Layer Pod. 01:03:31 Speaker 3: For TJ. 01:03:31 Speaker 2: Matthewson, this is Lyle Goldstein. We thank you as always for tuning in. We'll talk to you guys next week.