Episode 133: Mariner Newcomer Evaluations 1/3 Through The 2024 Season

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[00:00:27] Welcome to episode number 133 of the Marine Layer Podcast.

[00:00:31] We have our Mariner newcomer evaluations a third of the way through the 2024 season.

[00:00:36] We'll go down on the farm and pick out a standout Mariners minor leaguer.

[00:00:40] We have a Russell Wilson umpire of the week, a very special one this week.

[00:00:44] This will be one of our better segments on this we've ever done.

[00:00:47] We'll close out the show with Speak Your Mind.

[00:00:51] This show is brought to you by our friends over at Pagachas

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[00:01:49] And we welcome you to this episode of the MarineLayer Podcast, part of

[00:01:52] the Just Baseball Podcast Network recording Thursday afternoon, May 30th.

[00:01:59] And thanks for showing up Houston.

[00:02:01] Hmm.

[00:02:03] Well.

[00:02:04] They showed up on Thursday.

[00:02:07] Well, they did Spencer Arrogate.

[00:02:09] He did with the historic career performance for himself and unfortunate

[00:02:15] trend for the series, but Lyle, it was a good week.

[00:02:18] Like it was we sat like literally like we did.

[00:02:22] Yes.

[00:02:22] We sat here and we sat through most of these games this week and

[00:02:25] complained straight up.

[00:02:27] We were complaining, watching what we watch.

[00:02:29] I like the eye.

[00:02:30] Our eyes did not lie, but at the end of the day, the Mariners

[00:02:34] took three or four and extended their lead in first place.

[00:02:37] So like Scott service would tell us.

[00:02:40] Yeah, it wasn't perfect, but three or four, what are you going to complain about?

[00:02:45] That's true.

[00:02:46] It's just hard to sit there and see that they scored 12 runs

[00:02:49] in four games, so, or I'm sorry, nine runs in four games.

[00:02:53] That's not great.

[00:02:55] And runs in four games.

[00:02:56] And some of those swings were bad.

[00:03:01] Yeah.

[00:03:01] Shout out the bullpen.

[00:03:02] Shout out the rotation.

[00:03:04] They got clutch hitting when they needed it, but I just felt like here on

[00:03:08] Thursday that after the Mariners struggled so much offensively through

[00:03:12] the first three games yet they still won all three of them.

[00:03:15] They were facing a dude who's ERA coming into the day was over six.

[00:03:19] I'm thinking to myself, this is the day the offense pays back

[00:03:22] the rotation in bullpen.

[00:03:23] They're going to put up seven or eight runs and they're going

[00:03:25] to sweep these guys and if they sweep these guys, then all of a sudden

[00:03:29] the Astros are seven and a half out on June 1st.

[00:03:32] Maybe they think about getting Kyle Tucker out the door all of a sudden,

[00:03:34] just a little bit more than before if they were seven and a half out on June 1st.

[00:03:37] Unfortunately, the Mariners got shut out by Spencer Arrogati.

[00:03:42] I really thought this Thursday was going to be a day they, they just

[00:03:45] got it going offensively.

[00:03:46] They did not.

[00:03:48] But there are no trends to suggest that.

[00:03:50] It usually just happens.

[00:03:52] I know, but I thought I, I thought I put it pretty well in the, in

[00:03:56] the series recap we put out on social on Thursday, where like every,

[00:04:03] every time the offense trends in one direction, like eventually just comes back.

[00:04:09] Like have we seen a trend go in any direction and stay that way this year?

[00:04:14] That's good.

[00:04:16] Well, I was going to say strikeouts.

[00:04:18] Yeah, good.

[00:04:19] No, the strikeouts haven't stayed down for a long time.

[00:04:22] Coolio hasn't been hot long enough.

[00:04:25] Like Rojas cooled off.

[00:04:27] Demo has still been good, but like sustaining what he was doing is probably

[00:04:31] not going to happen for what demo is.

[00:04:34] Like that, those are just a few examples, like something continuing to go up.

[00:04:38] Like Cal Raleigh is hitting for an obscene amount of power.

[00:04:40] He's been on a cold streak the last week.

[00:04:43] I know baseball is a game of failure, but man, the failures are on offense or

[00:04:49] pushing in one direction significantly more than the other.

[00:04:51] And there's those are some of these, like we could tell Verlander is just not

[00:04:55] who he was on Wednesday.

[00:04:57] Like clearly not 41 years old.

[00:04:59] His fastball sits now in the low nineties.

[00:05:02] The curve ball is as slow as ever, but man, it didn't matter.

[00:05:07] He's just pounding fastballs at the top of the zone and getting guys.

[00:05:12] Yeah.

[00:05:12] Like the amount of in zone swing and miss is astonishing.

[00:05:17] It's astonishing.

[00:05:18] Like I wait, I like legitimately listeners.

[00:05:21] If Lyle and I had an answer to the Mariners problems, we would say it.

[00:05:25] We would say it.

[00:05:26] I'm like a really struggling to understand what else this offense can do.

[00:05:32] At this point, this episode will release on May 31st, right?

[00:05:37] We're a third of the way through the season.

[00:05:40] That's what this offense is now.

[00:05:43] They are what they are.

[00:05:44] Like you, you cannot overhaul this in season.

[00:05:47] Right.

[00:05:48] It's impossible.

[00:05:50] And that's what Jerry says too.

[00:05:51] He always says around Memorial day, we start to make some real judgments about

[00:05:55] who our identity as a team is, what guys are doing, what they're not doing,

[00:06:00] and what we have to do to fix it or not fix it.

[00:06:03] So I'm sure we're going to see acquisitions over the next couple of

[00:06:05] months.

[00:06:06] I'm sure that come August 1st, there will be new bats here in Seattle.

[00:06:11] Now, whether it's big time bats, smaller additions, I don't know, but there

[00:06:15] will be something that looks different by the end of the trade deadline.

[00:06:18] Because now as we sit here on a little after Memorial day, we're about to hit

[00:06:22] June 1st.

[00:06:23] Yeah.

[00:06:24] Now things may turn around to some extent.

[00:06:27] I don't know if all these guys can collectively just keep hitting this

[00:06:31] poorly as a group all year, but you're not going to see every single one

[00:06:36] of these guys turn it around.

[00:06:37] Now somebody is going to end the year having a very disappointing season.

[00:06:41] Even if this lineup adds Kyle Tucker and collectively turns around, they're

[00:06:45] not going to get to September and they've gone like a rolling month stretch

[00:06:49] of like a 20% strikeout rate with a plus walk rate.

[00:06:53] They're making a ton of contact in the zone and they've lifted their

[00:06:56] power profile.

[00:06:58] Those are all things they're not good at right now, even with an

[00:07:01] addition of quite literally the American League MVP right now that

[00:07:04] still wouldn't happen.

[00:07:07] And maybe that's a good transition into our storylines here because as we

[00:07:11] dive into some of these or I should say our one storyline, because as we

[00:07:14] dive into some of these guys through our first third of the year

[00:07:17] evaluations of all the newcomers.

[00:07:20] We'll dive deeper into it, but I'll just say this.

[00:07:22] If all these guys were just hitting at a league average rate, you know

[00:07:25] how much better this team would be right now?

[00:07:27] You know how many more wins this team would have if all these

[00:07:30] guys were just league average hitters right now or right around it.

[00:07:33] Because then there will be room for one good month to propel

[00:07:36] their whole season forward.

[00:07:38] But these guys, so many of these guys have dug themselves into such

[00:07:40] holes that not all of them are going to dig their way out of it.

[00:07:44] So what Lyle and I are doing today is we're doing our third season.

[00:07:49] I can't say quarter.

[00:07:50] No, third of the way through the season.

[00:07:52] Third of the way.

[00:07:54] Third of the way through the season evaluations for Mariners newcomers,

[00:07:58] Jorge Polanco, Mitch Garver, Luke Reilly, Ryan Stanek, and Luis

[00:08:03] Serias didn't include Mitch Hanegger because Mitch Hanegger has been

[00:08:07] a Mariner for a while and the expectations weren't quite as high

[00:08:12] for Mitch Hanegger this season at the state of the career he is in.

[00:08:17] So let's start off with Jorge Polanco and here's how I'm going

[00:08:22] to lead Jorge Polanco.

[00:08:24] Do you want to add something?

[00:08:25] Yeah, I just figured we should read the lines for all these guys.

[00:08:28] So everybody has an idea of where they're at as we currently set.

[00:08:31] So all I was going to give people before you dive all the way into it

[00:08:34] is for where we sit right now at time of recording Jorge Polanco

[00:08:38] in 2024 has a 595 OPS, five home runs, a 79 WRC plus and a negative 0.2 F4.

[00:08:49] So I want to, I was struggling away to say this while doing this preparation.

[00:08:56] I don't know how you can, when you just read that line right there

[00:09:00] and watching what Jorge Polanco has done this season, I don't know

[00:09:04] how, what way to say this besides saying this looks a whole lot like

[00:09:09] what we saw from Colton Wong last year.

[00:09:11] A whole lot like what we saw from Colton Wong last year.

[00:09:15] And mind you, Jorge Polanco over the course of his career has been

[00:09:18] a significantly better hitter than Colton Wong was in his career.

[00:09:23] Colt Wong for much of his career was a below average hitter who ran

[00:09:28] the bases well and played good defense, had a couple of good

[00:09:30] offensive season, good offensive seasons.

[00:09:33] Jorge Polanco for his career has been a well above average hitter.

[00:09:37] But if you look at what Jorge Polanco has done this season,

[00:09:42] the resemblance is unbelievable.

[00:09:45] It is way more like than any you or I or anyone would be comfortable

[00:09:51] looking at two months into the season.

[00:09:54] All I can say is what happened to this guy?

[00:09:57] Seriously, what happened since 2018?

[00:10:00] He had never had a WRC plus in a full season below 111.

[00:10:05] Below 111 in 2020, he struggled.

[00:10:07] But again, I throw that year out the window for every single guy that

[00:10:10] struggled because there was just too many outside factors that really

[00:10:14] made it difficult for a lot of guys to have truly good years,

[00:10:17] especially when you start in late July.

[00:10:19] It's just, it was nearly impossible for a bunch of guys.

[00:10:20] So I throw that out.

[00:10:21] The full seasons that Jorge Polanco has had since 2018, he's never been

[00:10:25] below 111 and the last three years, he was at 124 in 2021, 119 in 22 and 118 in 23.

[00:10:35] What in the world has happened that everything has just all the

[00:10:39] sudden taken a nosedive for him?

[00:10:41] We're going to dive into it, but even diving into it,

[00:10:45] I'm still just baffled by it all.

[00:10:48] He shouldn't at age 30 fall off a cliff.

[00:10:50] Colt Wong has had a few years on him last year when he fell off the cliff.

[00:10:54] Jorge Polanco had been injured a couple of times, but it

[00:10:57] showed no signs of slowing down.

[00:10:58] None.

[00:10:59] There had been nothing in his track record that suggested he was

[00:11:02] trending in the wrong direction.

[00:11:04] You looked at, for example, we get started as strikeout rate, which

[00:11:07] he's striking out 31% of the time this year, he had struck out at

[00:11:10] a higher rate last year, but we're talking to guy with a career sub

[00:11:13] 20% strikeout rate and even, even if you saw the increase in

[00:11:18] strikeout rate, well, he played half a year last year.

[00:11:20] So you could say, okay, so he was, his timing was off because

[00:11:23] he only played half a season and it was hard for him to get back in a rhythm.

[00:11:26] Okay.

[00:11:27] Well, before he's been hurt here recently, he's played almost

[00:11:29] every single day for the Mariners and that hasn't mattered.

[00:11:32] It has not mattered in it.

[00:11:34] And he is continued to swing and miss at just an insane rate.

[00:11:39] Let's dive into it.

[00:11:40] Let's dive into the real meat of this issue for Jorge Polanco.

[00:11:45] We've highlighted this before, but now I mean, we're going to paint as

[00:11:48] clear of a picture as possible of what's going wrong with Jorge Polanco.

[00:11:53] It's the fastball.

[00:11:55] It is the fastball.

[00:11:57] He is about league average against breaking balls and against off speed

[00:12:01] pitches, but against heaters he's bad.

[00:12:05] He is atrocious.

[00:12:06] This is a man in his career has been plus 21 in this, in the time that

[00:12:13] baseball Savant has tracked run value since 2017 he's been plus

[00:12:18] 21 against fastballs overall.

[00:12:20] And that includes Lyle in 2017.

[00:12:23] He was negative 10 against fastballs.

[00:12:25] So including that negative 10 since that Mark, he's plus 21 against fastballs,

[00:12:31] a good fastball hitter every season of his career this year in a small

[00:12:36] sample, he's already negative six already negative six and I'll throw

[00:12:42] it back to you with this number.

[00:12:43] He has a strikeout rate of against fastballs of 35%, 35% against straight

[00:12:51] line heaters, you know what the number was last year 14.7% and that's where

[00:12:58] we come back to what happened a 20% jump in strikeout rate against the

[00:13:05] same pitch year to year.

[00:13:06] It doesn't make sense.

[00:13:08] It doesn't make any sense.

[00:13:09] And for those who aren't as familiar with run value, and you just want to

[00:13:12] look at the slug numbers against the pitch, look at the difference here.

[00:13:15] People Jorge Palonco last year slugged 620 against four seam fastballs.

[00:13:21] In other words, he destroyed heaters, destroyed them.

[00:13:25] That's what the Mariners expected him to do coming to Seattle.

[00:13:29] He is slugging 208 against four seam fastballs this year.

[00:13:33] His expected slug.

[00:13:35] If maybe you're thinking to yourself, well, this could turn around

[00:13:38] because sometimes expected numbers say you're getting unlucky.

[00:13:41] His expected slugging against four seam fastballs is two 30.

[00:13:46] It's May 30th.

[00:13:48] What is going on legitimately?

[00:13:50] What is going on?

[00:13:51] I don't know if the second base position is just cursed for the Mariners,

[00:13:55] but this doesn't make any sense because of all the guys they brought

[00:13:58] in over the last few years, this is the most sustainable profile that's

[00:14:03] come into town.

[00:14:04] This is the best hitter of all the second baseman that's

[00:14:06] coming to town since Robbie.

[00:14:07] I don't get it.

[00:14:08] And he's only 30.

[00:14:09] You just mentioned it.

[00:14:10] Colton long was a little older when he got here last year.

[00:14:13] And even though we expected him to be about a two win player,

[00:14:18] it's I'm less surprised to see Polanco.

[00:14:21] Sorry.

[00:14:21] I'm less surprised to see Wong do what he did last year

[00:14:26] than what's happening to Polanco because Wong was older and he

[00:14:28] didn't have the pro power profile that Polanco has.

[00:14:31] And Polanco also doesn't strike out.

[00:14:33] How in one off season do you go from slugging six 20 against

[00:14:36] four seam fastballs to nearly under 200?

[00:14:40] And if you're wondering of last, if 2023 was an outlier year against

[00:14:44] fastballs for Polanco, no, he slugged over 620 against fastballs in 22.

[00:14:48] And he slugged over 600 against fastballs in 21.

[00:14:52] They're not an outlier.

[00:14:53] This is the outlier season.

[00:14:55] And I, and if you want the Colton long comparison, it lines up

[00:14:59] too perfectly, it literally does like I, I, I, as this is going to

[00:15:03] pain people Colton long in 2021 and 2022 slugged five 20 against

[00:15:08] fastballs.

[00:15:09] And then he comes to Seattle in 2023 and slugs, 297 against

[00:15:12] fastballs.

[00:15:13] Like what?

[00:15:16] You know, here's the only justification I can have for this.

[00:15:20] Here's the only justification.

[00:15:21] So you and I have talked about how down of an offensive year

[00:15:24] this is league wide in baseball.

[00:15:27] It's just, it is a terrible offensive year for hitters.

[00:15:30] The, like the league wide babbip is 288 now the league

[00:15:35] wide OPS is under 700.

[00:15:37] Like it is like hitters are down bad offensively.

[00:15:40] So if you were to, if you were to go ahead.

[00:15:44] Just to just to give your statement there, some more

[00:15:47] context.

[00:15:48] I know we'll get to Luke Rayleigh in much more detail

[00:15:50] later.

[00:15:50] Luke Rayleigh has a 102 WRC plus for the year.

[00:15:53] His OPS is 692.

[00:15:55] His OPS is 692 and by league standard season above

[00:15:59] average hitter right now.

[00:16:00] That's how down offenses in baseball this year.

[00:16:03] The only explanation I have for all of this is that

[00:16:07] some of these hitters will talk about come to Seattle

[00:16:11] in already the most difficult hitters park in baseball

[00:16:16] in the worst hitters year we've seen in a long time.

[00:16:22] Like the combination of coming to a completely new

[00:16:25] place, a new culture, a new environment, like a new

[00:16:29] drive to work, like a new weather outside, a new

[00:16:33] routine on top of the fact you come to this ballpark

[00:16:37] whenever you hit the ball in the air dies and it

[00:16:40] changes your mindset of everything.

[00:16:42] And then on top of that pitchers are throwing harder

[00:16:44] than ever.

[00:16:45] The breaking stuff is better than ever in the overall

[00:16:48] league wide offensive environment is as bad as

[00:16:51] it's ever been.

[00:16:52] So if you cook that all into a perfect soup, perhaps

[00:16:56] that's what you have with Jorge Plango because

[00:16:58] that's that's really the only explanation I have for

[00:17:00] a 30 year old former all-star to fall off a

[00:17:03] cliff like this is just against that pitch too.

[00:17:07] Against a four seam fastball.

[00:17:10] And it doesn't it doesn't work.

[00:17:13] Here's a context number.

[00:17:14] If you want the tiniest little bit of optimism,

[00:17:17] the tiniest little bit of optimism and I want to

[00:17:19] give Shannon Dreher a shout out.

[00:17:21] She brought this number up when she was on

[00:17:24] Brock and sock on Wednesday talking about this

[00:17:26] very issue with new hitters struggling.

[00:17:30] Do you remember Marcus Simeon's first year in

[00:17:32] Texas Lyle?

[00:17:34] Oh, that first half of the year was tough for

[00:17:35] I'm really tough with the bat at the same point

[00:17:38] right now where he is where we are right now on

[00:17:42] recording here on May 30th.

[00:17:45] Marcus Simeon had a 53 WRC plus at that point.

[00:17:48] Jorge Planko is actually blowing that number out

[00:17:51] of the water right now.

[00:17:52] He's at 79 if you want some context.

[00:17:55] So it's not all like potentially not all hope

[00:18:00] is lost really because it has been proven

[00:18:02] when Marcus Simeon then eventually turns it

[00:18:04] around.

[00:18:04] He's great in the second half of 22 and then

[00:18:06] the rate he's a key piece of the Rangers

[00:18:08] winning the World Series last year.

[00:18:09] So it is possible similar ages to by the way,

[00:18:12] it is possible for this thing to get turned

[00:18:15] around.

[00:18:15] It is possible.

[00:18:16] But right now I think Lyle you and I

[00:18:18] unanimously agree we don't have any answers

[00:18:20] for this like we really don't there is no

[00:18:22] other way to paint Jorge Planko's first two

[00:18:26] months as a Mariner as anything other than a

[00:18:29] failure.

[00:18:32] Again, it like my my best answer to this is

[00:18:35] is the position cursed.

[00:18:37] I legit have no idea because why is a guy

[00:18:39] like this with this profile not thriving

[00:18:42] here and you can use the T-Mobile Park

[00:18:45] Factor all you want.

[00:18:46] He played in Minnesota.

[00:18:48] Minnesota is not an easy park to hit

[00:18:49] and that weather is not friendly early

[00:18:51] in the year.

[00:18:52] Maybe it's harder slightly to hit in Seattle

[00:18:55] but it's not apples and oranges.

[00:18:57] It's not two totally different environments.

[00:19:00] It's hard to hit home runs in both places.

[00:19:02] So yes, it's a different drive to work.

[00:19:04] Yes, it's a new routine a new organization.

[00:19:06] He's never been in a new organization

[00:19:08] and the human side of things are is

[00:19:12] something that people probably don't

[00:19:14] always take into account enough and

[00:19:16] the adjustment to a totally new lifestyle

[00:19:19] may play a factor but when you see how

[00:19:22] he's hitting in the drastic fall off

[00:19:24] like this it just doesn't make a lot

[00:19:27] of sense all his power profile numbers

[00:19:29] are down.

[00:19:30] You look at his savant page from last

[00:19:32] year all his power numbers were good.

[00:19:34] Here's where he was at.

[00:19:36] He was in the 82nd percentile in X slug.

[00:19:39] He was in the 88th percentile in

[00:19:41] barrel rate so he was barreling up

[00:19:42] the ball.

[00:19:43] He was hitting it hard.

[00:19:44] Here we are in 24.

[00:19:46] He's in the sixth percentile in X slug.

[00:19:50] He's in the 28th percentile in barrel

[00:19:52] rate.

[00:19:53] I can't stress it enough and I hate

[00:19:55] saying this because genuinely he's

[00:19:56] really awesome like just as

[00:19:58] in terms of talking to the guy and

[00:20:00] chatting it up with him a little bit.

[00:20:01] Really really good dude but just in

[00:20:03] terms of his play on the field I

[00:20:05] cannot for the life of me figure out

[00:20:07] what's going on with him.

[00:20:08] Yeah and it's the same thing with

[00:20:09] his quality of contact too.

[00:20:11] We're talking about profiles dropping

[00:20:14] from the 75th or above percentile to

[00:20:17] I mean quality of contact it's 76th

[00:20:20] to 13th.

[00:20:22] Does not happen.

[00:20:24] The craziest one's the X slug that's

[00:20:25] the biggest drastic difference again

[00:20:27] 82nd percentile to sixth percentile at

[00:20:30] 30 years old.

[00:20:31] How does that even happen?

[00:20:33] I don't know.

[00:20:34] I don't know if you if you and I knew

[00:20:36] we'd probably not be podcasting we'd

[00:20:37] be making a lot more money.

[00:20:39] Right.

[00:20:39] I would say.

[00:20:41] And here's one other thing about

[00:20:42] Polanco too again I know we got to

[00:20:44] move on to other guys but I did want

[00:20:46] to throw this stat out there.

[00:20:47] The one saving grace for him so far

[00:20:50] has been the fact that he's

[00:20:51] continued to walk even though he's

[00:20:52] striking out way more.

[00:20:54] But even that's a little bit skewed.

[00:20:56] Look at this.

[00:20:57] So as a whole he's walking a little

[00:20:59] under 12 percent of the time.

[00:21:01] I had optimism despite a slow start

[00:21:03] in April that things would get

[00:21:05] turned around for Polanco because he

[00:21:06] was hitting for such a low average

[00:21:08] in the month of April he was hitting

[00:21:09] 170 his on base was 314 and he

[00:21:11] wasn't slugging.

[00:21:12] I said okay weather's going to warm

[00:21:14] up power is going to come at least

[00:21:16] he's getting on base things should

[00:21:17] turn around.

[00:21:18] Well his average went up he hit

[00:21:20] 237 in May he didn't slug enough

[00:21:23] in May but it still went up from

[00:21:24] April it was at 322.

[00:21:27] His on base percentage went down

[00:21:30] from April to May and he walked

[00:21:32] in the month of May I cannot even

[00:21:34] believe this.

[00:21:35] He ran out for the month of May a

[00:21:37] 1.7 percent walk rate.

[00:21:40] He was walking almost 17 percent

[00:21:42] of the time in April.

[00:21:43] It's gone down to under 2 percent

[00:21:45] for the month.

[00:21:46] I don't know how that happens

[00:21:47] either.

[00:21:50] And unfortunately for Polanco he's

[00:21:52] offering no value elsewhere.

[00:21:54] Any other facet right he's just

[00:21:55] not a great defender.

[00:21:57] No not a great defender and we

[00:21:58] didn't expect him to be good

[00:21:59] defender the point was his bat was

[00:22:01] supposed to make up for the fact he

[00:22:03] was not a good defender and in the

[00:22:05] his past years he's been a good

[00:22:08] base runner as you get older you're

[00:22:09] not expected to be a good base

[00:22:11] runner but he still has 73rd

[00:22:15] percentile sprint speed and yet

[00:22:17] he's below average.

[00:22:19] He hasn't sorry he hasn't provided

[00:22:20] any base running run value it's

[00:22:22] sitting at zero right now for him.

[00:22:24] So like unfortunately what we ask

[00:22:26] of guys like even if you're

[00:22:28] struggling make it up somewhere

[00:22:30] else that's what Julio's done in

[00:22:31] center field all season.

[00:22:33] It's not happened with Polanco.

[00:22:35] It's too bad.

[00:22:36] Hopefully he has the semian

[00:22:38] effect and turns it around

[00:22:39] because they could really really

[00:22:41] use it.

[00:22:42] I'm going to continue to say it

[00:22:43] throughout this show if all these

[00:22:44] guys that they brought in were 100

[00:22:46] WRC plus hitters right now

[00:22:47] the runners might have an eight or

[00:22:48] nine game lead in the American

[00:22:50] League West.

[00:22:50] It's the fact that everybody is so

[00:22:52] significantly below where they're

[00:22:54] not just expected to be but below

[00:22:56] league average.

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[00:23:24] So let's move on to the second guy

[00:23:26] here we spent a lot of time on

[00:23:27] Polanco I think it's warranted

[00:23:29] because he is the most head

[00:23:31] scratching puzzling factor of

[00:23:33] everybody

[00:23:34] where for why this is happening I

[00:23:36] know everybody has the questions that

[00:23:37] we have so we dove in on him a

[00:23:38] good bit

[00:23:39] but let's move on to the second

[00:23:40] guy Mitch Garber. Garver for the

[00:23:43] year

[00:23:44] as a whole hasn't gone all that

[00:23:47] much better than Polanco

[00:23:48] 590 OPS five home runs 79 WRC plus

[00:23:54] negative 0.4 F4

[00:23:57] not great where do we start with him?

[00:24:00] No at least we saw him on defense

[00:24:02] this week

[00:24:04] that was a that was a plus I'm

[00:24:05] actually yeah so we did wince at

[00:24:08] that

[00:24:08] but at this point we can start here

[00:24:12] first of all like barely noticed him

[00:24:14] at all behind the plate which is a

[00:24:15] very good thing

[00:24:16] because if catchers are bad you notice

[00:24:18] right away Garver looked great

[00:24:20] back there I mean he's blocking framed

[00:24:22] a little bit didn't let anything get

[00:24:24] past him he was on a pitch count he

[00:24:26] didn't I think he only caught until the

[00:24:28] seventh inning and then Cal Raleigh

[00:24:29] took over

[00:24:30] and they talked about this as a way

[00:24:32] to get Mitch Garber's bat going

[00:24:34] you know as as something they literally

[00:24:36] snuck in there right before our

[00:24:38] valuations here on

[00:24:39] at the end of May I like it's one

[00:24:42] of the few things I could say okay

[00:24:44] like I'm almost Lyle now open to him

[00:24:46] going once a week because

[00:24:47] you can't just roll him out at DH and

[00:24:50] him continuing to hit this bat

[00:24:52] right so he's gonna want you're gonna

[00:24:54] want him to try and

[00:24:56] you're gonna want him to try and bring

[00:24:59] value in other ways

[00:25:00] and if he believes and the

[00:25:01] Mariners believe that him catching

[00:25:02] more could help wake up his bat

[00:25:04] then I think we're just gonna have

[00:25:06] to accept the risk he could get hurt

[00:25:08] back there like he has in his career

[00:25:10] in an effort to get his back go

[00:25:13] I don't think you want to accept that

[00:25:14] risk again you're talking about then

[00:25:16] he's gonna

[00:25:17] be out for two plus months or lord

[00:25:19] knows however long

[00:25:20] if he gets hurt back there all the

[00:25:22] injuries that he's sustained in his

[00:25:23] career

[00:25:24] have been from behind the plate I

[00:25:27] look he was fine back there the

[00:25:28] other night yes

[00:25:30] but you're you're walking a tight

[00:25:33] rope by putting him back behind the

[00:25:34] plate because again

[00:25:35] he is this is a guy who does not

[00:25:37] play more than 85 to 90 games a

[00:25:39] year because he has been injured

[00:25:40] every year of his career he's actually

[00:25:42] stayed on the field through two months

[00:25:44] you would be against him catching once

[00:25:46] a week

[00:25:48] kinda because even the once a week thing

[00:25:50] could could

[00:25:51] beat up on him we're talking about

[00:25:52] he's already had back spasms he's been

[00:25:54] day to day a few times this year

[00:25:56] just as a dh

[00:25:58] but as a as just a dh he's cost you

[00:26:00] half a win

[00:26:03] we can't is it can't just because is

[00:26:05] it solely because he's not catching I

[00:26:06] don't know if that's what it is or

[00:26:08] not I I don't know but like at

[00:26:10] this point

[00:26:11] look we're gonna dive into his

[00:26:12] hitting numbers but what what other

[00:26:14] explanation because

[00:26:16] like I just said if you're struggling

[00:26:19] find a way to add value somewhere else

[00:26:22] this can be a way to do that

[00:26:25] but he's also never graded out as a

[00:26:27] very good defensive catcher is he

[00:26:28] really going to provide

[00:26:29] value even being back there once a

[00:26:31] week defensively

[00:26:32] I don't know if I'm quite in this

[00:26:34] camp but some people could talk

[00:26:35] themselves

[00:26:36] into saying he would provide valued

[00:26:39] more the fact that he's just a

[00:26:41] better catcher than sebi saval is

[00:26:44] hmm and you and you'd say okay that

[00:26:47] cow off day

[00:26:48] we're getting x amount better behind

[00:26:50] the plate and I think that's valuable

[00:26:52] enough

[00:26:53] even just there without him hitting a

[00:26:55] single thing

[00:26:58] maybe I guess Kirby was kind of the

[00:27:00] right guy for him to catch because

[00:27:02] Kirby was around the zone he was

[00:27:03] throwing strikes you know he's gonna

[00:27:05] you know you know he's gonna dot it

[00:27:07] up you don't have to worry about a

[00:27:08] whole bunch of

[00:27:09] you know bruises from George Kirby

[00:27:12] outings yeah again if

[00:27:13] if he didn't take his mask off when

[00:27:16] Kirby was pitching would you know it

[00:27:17] was him back there

[00:27:19] yeah I guess not but I am still

[00:27:22] worried how this could

[00:27:23] potentially lead to injuries maybe

[00:27:25] we're spending too much time on

[00:27:26] this

[00:27:27] all I know is he's got to get it

[00:27:29] going with the bat

[00:27:31] is it gonna happen to catcher I

[00:27:32] don't know I I will have to see it

[00:27:34] to believe it because again he has

[00:27:35] never really graded as a great

[00:27:36] defensive catcher

[00:27:38] now if we're gonna get into his

[00:27:40] hitting profile

[00:27:41] if you watch Mitch Garver's at bats you

[00:27:44] can pretty clearly see

[00:27:45] what the issue with is Mitch Garver

[00:27:48] has struggled really struggled this

[00:27:50] year overall

[00:27:51] right on right breaking balls that has

[00:27:54] eaten him up

[00:27:55] and spitting them out I mean

[00:27:56] especially sliders this is the first

[00:27:59] time in his career he has been this

[00:28:00] bad against

[00:28:01] breaking balls and it's specifically

[00:28:02] allow that you and I watch this all

[00:28:04] the time I mean

[00:28:05] bottom outside corner to a right

[00:28:07] handed hitter

[00:28:08] slider on right on right slider boom

[00:28:10] boom boom he has

[00:28:11] not hit that pitch at all this year

[00:28:13] and I think that pitch alone

[00:28:15] is the reason he's not like a league

[00:28:17] average hitter I legitimately think

[00:28:20] if he never faced a single right on

[00:28:22] right breaking ball this season

[00:28:25] he'd be a league average hitter now

[00:28:27] that's kind of unfair because I

[00:28:28] think the overall offense and baseball

[00:28:30] would be a lot better if you took

[00:28:31] out

[00:28:31] of of same handiness breaking ball

[00:28:34] against you because there's a reason

[00:28:35] those pitches are so effective

[00:28:37] but I legitimately think if you took

[00:28:39] that out

[00:28:40] from what he is facing he's league

[00:28:43] average otherwise

[00:28:45] considering he's still crushing lefties

[00:28:47] sure and that hasn't been Garver's

[00:28:49] issue what he's done against lefties

[00:28:51] is exactly what you ask him to do

[00:28:53] against lefties when he was brought

[00:28:55] in here

[00:28:55] look at what he's done he's got a

[00:28:56] 131 wrc plus against left-handed

[00:28:58] pitching right now his ops is just

[00:29:00] shy of 800

[00:29:01] and his strikeout rate isn't great

[00:29:03] against lefties but it's a little

[00:29:04] more manageable

[00:29:05] 26 and a half percent against lefties

[00:29:08] but those righties you're right about

[00:29:10] the sliders that has been his toughest

[00:29:12] pitch to deal with and it has

[00:29:13] resulted in him through two months

[00:29:15] putting up a 56 weighted runs creative

[00:29:17] plus against right-handed pitching

[00:29:18] which again let's say it again how is

[00:29:21] this happening

[00:29:22] maybe Garver it's more justifiable

[00:29:24] because he is aging

[00:29:25] he's 33 now but he's never struggled

[00:29:29] with righties in his career he's

[00:29:30] been better against lefties

[00:29:32] but he's got a career 108 wrc plus

[00:29:34] against righties

[00:29:35] he's hit righties he is it hasn't it

[00:29:37] hasn't given him

[00:29:38] fits left and right and the strikeout

[00:29:40] rate is crazy right now

[00:29:42] against right-handed pitching which

[00:29:44] still baffles me considering last

[00:29:45] year

[00:29:46] there was not one pitch that Mitch

[00:29:48] Garver truly struggled with

[00:29:50] including the sliders

[00:29:51] he was perfectly fine against

[00:29:52] sliders last year all of a sudden

[00:29:54] here in 2024

[00:29:56] it's a whole different story and those

[00:29:57] sliders are absolutely eating him

[00:30:00] alive like you just talked about

[00:30:02] the number is 49 percent strikeout rate

[00:30:05] against sliders this year

[00:30:07] 49 percent it's almost a free out

[00:30:10] when you throw Mitch Garver slider

[00:30:12] it's funny you mentioned last year

[00:30:14] Lyle which year do you think he

[00:30:17] reached base more often against

[00:30:18] fastballs and off-speed pitches

[00:30:21] against right-handers what year he's

[00:30:24] done it the most in his career is

[00:30:25] that what you're asking no the last

[00:30:26] of the last two seasons right on

[00:30:28] right fastballs and off-speed pitches

[00:30:30] which year this year or last year did

[00:30:31] he reach base more often

[00:30:33] the fact you're phrasing it like this

[00:30:35] it sounds like the answer is going to

[00:30:36] be 2024

[00:30:37] it is this year it's just

[00:30:41] the breaking balls that's it he has

[00:30:44] been better

[00:30:45] reaching base more not slugging as

[00:30:46] much but reaching base more against

[00:30:48] right-handers throwing off-speed and

[00:30:51] fastballs

[00:30:52] than he did last year which one is

[00:30:54] one of the best most complete

[00:30:55] offensive seasons of his career

[00:30:59] it's crazy and again those sliders

[00:31:01] like he slugged a little under 400

[00:31:03] against sliders last year he didn't

[00:31:05] light that pitch on fire but he was

[00:31:07] fine

[00:31:08] he's slugging 128 against sliders

[00:31:10] right now and you know what the

[00:31:11] sinkers are doing him no favors either

[00:31:13] that's the biggest drastic difference

[00:31:15] the breaking balls have been the

[00:31:16] breaking balls but these sinkers are

[00:31:18] chewing them up too

[00:31:20] he slugged over 500 last year

[00:31:22] against sinkers against those two

[00:31:23] seam fastballs

[00:31:24] right now he is slugging 095

[00:31:28] against sinkers i don't know what and

[00:31:31] again

[00:31:32] is it all age how does that happen

[00:31:34] because most of the sinkers you're

[00:31:35] going to see yes they're from righty's

[00:31:37] which he does not bear as well

[00:31:38] against

[00:31:39] but he crushed him last year

[00:31:42] what's changed shrug shrug

[00:31:47] i don't know and the pitchers have

[00:31:50] picked up on this too like they have

[00:31:52] fully realized we're throwing him

[00:31:53] more breaking balls than anything

[00:31:54] else he get his

[00:31:55] sliders is what pitches pitchers

[00:31:57] throw to him the most period of any

[00:31:59] pitch type

[00:32:00] he sees more breaking balls overall

[00:32:03] than he does

[00:32:04] um then he does fastballs which is

[00:32:07] very rare even in in today's major

[00:32:09] league baseball where

[00:32:10] breaking balls are more prevalent

[00:32:12] than ever he gets more breaking balls

[00:32:14] than fastballs and i mean think about

[00:32:16] this this is like a very easy

[00:32:18] i feel like i know you were never

[00:32:19] great at math but hear me out

[00:32:24] so he faces righty's what 75 percent

[00:32:26] of the time give or take

[00:32:27] because that's the that's the split of

[00:32:29] righty's in baseball

[00:32:30] about and righty's throw him breaking

[00:32:33] balls about 50 percent of the time

[00:32:35] they throw a pitch to him and if he

[00:32:37] can't hit breaking balls do the math

[00:32:39] on his offensive season

[00:32:41] don't hit breaking balls you face

[00:32:43] right on right breaking

[00:32:44] you don't hit right on right

[00:32:46] breaking balls you see right on right

[00:32:47] pitchers 75 percent of the time and

[00:32:49] they throw you that pitch half the

[00:32:50] time

[00:32:51] what happens that means you really

[00:32:53] have to do damage against

[00:32:54] everything else

[00:32:55] and unfortunately he's not reaching

[00:32:57] base yes

[00:32:58] doing damage not really i can't even

[00:33:02] believe i'm gonna have to throw this

[00:33:03] idea out there but

[00:33:05] given the numbers being what they are

[00:33:08] are we going to get to a point in

[00:33:09] time where the mariners are going to

[00:33:10] have to think about

[00:33:11] platooning a dh that they paid 12

[00:33:14] million dollars a year to

[00:33:16] yes yes you can't

[00:33:20] because right now you cannot in good

[00:33:22] faith building your best

[00:33:23] possible lineup at full health have

[00:33:26] him hit against a righty especially

[00:33:27] righties with good breaking balls

[00:33:29] because you like the numbers tell you

[00:33:31] it's not working

[00:33:33] it works against lefties but not

[00:33:35] against righties

[00:33:36] no so in in these situations

[00:33:40] if there's a righty on the mound

[00:33:43] somebody else would have to come in

[00:33:45] and dh

[00:33:47] and who would bring raylee in in dh

[00:33:49] probably right

[00:33:50] but raylee would be in against a

[00:33:52] righty anyway right

[00:33:53] right well you might have to shuffle it

[00:33:55] around and put him at dh and put

[00:33:57] someone else in the outfield even

[00:33:58] though

[00:33:58] you would want you would want raylee

[00:34:01] out there

[00:34:02] she's one of your three best

[00:34:03] defenders in the outfield

[00:34:05] so if on a normal day against a

[00:34:08] right-handed pitcher your outfield is

[00:34:10] canzone and left

[00:34:11] julio and center raylee and right or

[00:34:14] sorry i should say raylee and left

[00:34:15] julio and center canzone and right

[00:34:17] and you're not going to dh garver

[00:34:20] that leaves sebi zavala jonathan

[00:34:23] classe and mitch hanniger

[00:34:25] and mitch hanniger doesn't really hit

[00:34:27] righties all that great either

[00:34:29] what about bliss could be bliss if he

[00:34:33] keeps hitting

[00:34:34] all the more reason he's got an

[00:34:35] actual chance to stay if he keeps

[00:34:36] hitting

[00:34:37] because that might be a spot for

[00:34:40] him where

[00:34:40] that's not going to be a dh that's

[00:34:42] gonna hit you 30 bombs

[00:34:44] but it could provide some

[00:34:45] production i again i think bliss is a

[00:34:48] bat i know he doesn't have his

[00:34:48] first hit yet as a time of recording

[00:34:50] but i actually think his bat has been

[00:34:52] pretty competitive

[00:34:53] can you eclipse a 62 wrc plus against

[00:34:56] righties

[00:34:57] that's what they're asking and maybe

[00:35:00] maybe just maybe mitch garver turns it

[00:35:01] around

[00:35:03] but we're running out of time to find

[00:35:04] out at least this season

[00:35:06] because like the the flaw

[00:35:09] in in his approach has been

[00:35:12] exploited this season to the ultimate

[00:35:14] extent and there's no counter besides

[00:35:16] just not letting him face that pitch

[00:35:19] at what point do they actually make

[00:35:20] that executive decision is that the

[00:35:22] all-star break

[00:35:23] is it sooner than that it's june 1st

[00:35:25] right it's going to be june 1st this

[00:35:27] weekend

[00:35:27] like this like as we said we're doing

[00:35:30] our evaluations i think the mariners

[00:35:31] are doing the same thing

[00:35:32] there's only there's only so long you

[00:35:34] could do this it's it is some time

[00:35:36] probably within the next 45 days

[00:35:39] and that would be the all-star game

[00:35:41] that's going to be a tough pill to

[00:35:42] swallow too again platooning

[00:35:44] a dh that you paid 12 million bucks a

[00:35:46] year to

[00:35:47] and the mariner jerry abandoning his

[00:35:50] philosophy of being

[00:35:52] of having a versatile dh spot and

[00:35:54] saying all right we're gonna have a

[00:35:55] full-time dh

[00:35:56] only to eventually like you said

[00:35:58] platoon the dh

[00:36:00] in what is the biggest position

[00:36:02] player contract

[00:36:03] the jerry depoto era mariners have

[00:36:05] ever given out and let's preface this

[00:36:07] again

[00:36:08] this is not a knock on jerry and

[00:36:09] justin we know where the knock there

[00:36:10] is

[00:36:11] there's a reason there's a reason

[00:36:13] they don't go out and spend money

[00:36:14] and it is not their decisions

[00:36:16] but this is the player they have

[00:36:19] invested the most in that as a

[00:36:21] position player in free agency

[00:36:24] before we move on to luke rayleigh

[00:36:25] here i just want to propose you a

[00:36:27] question if we were to

[00:36:29] you and i were to go back to february

[00:36:31] and tell ourselves like

[00:36:33] when we're talking like second base

[00:36:35] and dh

[00:36:37] fixed well

[00:36:41] all right

[00:36:42] now reason did we have to believe it

[00:36:44] wasn't going to be we didn't have any

[00:36:46] garver we didn't have any garver

[00:36:48] literally put up

[00:36:49] about a 140 wrc plus last year i know

[00:36:54] again as i say how does this happen

[00:36:56] to this franchise

[00:36:58] yeah i wish i wish i had an answer

[00:37:02] i wish i had an answer lial uh i don't

[00:37:06] let's get to our next guy luke

[00:37:07] rayleigh

[00:37:08] uh here through two months has

[00:37:11] actually been good

[00:37:12] he's been above replacement level for

[00:37:14] the mariners

[00:37:15] was in and out of the lineup at the

[00:37:16] start but since april 21st

[00:37:18] has been almost an everyday player

[00:37:21] he's slashing 266 300 403 as of

[00:37:25] yesterday

[00:37:26] with a 105 wrc plus he's worth

[00:37:29] about half of fan grafts went above

[00:37:30] replacement

[00:37:32] 28 strikeout rate and a two percent

[00:37:36] walk rate and since he started

[00:37:37] playing full-time while a 132

[00:37:39] wrc plus for luke rayleigh

[00:37:43] better ultimately we can say first two

[00:37:45] months not a failure

[00:37:47] no he's been above average and again

[00:37:50] offenses down across the league his

[00:37:51] ops is under 700

[00:37:53] but his wrc plus is above league

[00:37:55] average i don't love the fact that

[00:37:57] he's basically not walking

[00:37:59] at all but he has

[00:38:02] he has been productive and especially

[00:38:04] since they started playing him more

[00:38:06] he's gotten in a rhythm which is why

[00:38:07] was still so

[00:38:09] weird that he was essentially in the

[00:38:10] doghouse for the first three weeks of

[00:38:12] the season

[00:38:13] and finally once they started letting

[00:38:14] him get in a groove he's figured

[00:38:16] some things out

[00:38:18] his versatility is the best thing i'm

[00:38:19] i'm gonna like

[00:38:21] disregard his offensive production the

[00:38:22] fact he could play all three outfield

[00:38:24] positions

[00:38:25] and play first base he's fast and

[00:38:28] he's big something

[00:38:30] we've mentioned multiple times ryan

[00:38:31] davis highlighted this is not a

[00:38:33] fast and athletic team

[00:38:35] really at all so the fact you have

[00:38:37] someone you can play every day and you

[00:38:38] feel comfortable playing every day

[00:38:40] that can steal a base or even just get

[00:38:42] first to third or second to home

[00:38:44] without much of a worry is fantastic

[00:38:47] it's really fantastic i do kind of

[00:38:49] have a worry though even though he's

[00:38:50] been very productive

[00:38:51] we've mentioned the strikeout and

[00:38:53] walk rates really unsustainable it's

[00:38:55] really difficult to

[00:38:56] achieve that and sustain any sort of

[00:38:58] success with those numbers throughout

[00:39:00] the season

[00:39:01] on top of that his savant page is

[00:39:03] not much better than

[00:39:04] Jorge Polanco's it's really not it's

[00:39:07] it is all almost all blue his bat

[00:39:09] speed's good which means his quality

[00:39:11] of swing is

[00:39:12] good but everything else chasing a lot

[00:39:15] he's swinging and missing a lot

[00:39:16] he's he's not hitting the ball all

[00:39:19] that hard he's not hitting it at the

[00:39:20] optimal launch angle

[00:39:22] in all the other numbers the expected

[00:39:24] quality of contact

[00:39:26] expected batting average slugging

[00:39:27] percentage they all reflect

[00:39:29] uh reflect poorly on that

[00:39:32] you knew the chase rate and the k rate

[00:39:35] and the whiff rate were going to be

[00:39:36] low

[00:39:36] because when you strike out a lot and

[00:39:37] you don't walk this is what happens

[00:39:39] the thing that's disheartening right

[00:39:41] now is

[00:39:43] luke rayleigh's profile says there is

[00:39:46] a chance

[00:39:47] that this power that he showed in the

[00:39:50] month of may

[00:39:51] won't sustain and that is not a

[00:39:53] great sign because they need luke

[00:39:54] rayleigh to hit for power they need

[00:39:55] him to hit with authority

[00:39:57] and while sometimes it can be a fluke

[00:39:59] maybe he goes the whole year and it's

[00:40:01] not a big deal

[00:40:02] it is noteworthy that things like his

[00:40:04] barrel rate are way down from where it

[00:40:06] was a season ago and

[00:40:08] maybe part of that's what happened in

[00:40:09] april and it's climbing its way back

[00:40:11] up right now because i remember

[00:40:12] in april his savant page was really

[00:40:14] low like a lot of first and second

[00:40:16] percentiles and it's come up a little

[00:40:17] bit since then

[00:40:19] but it's still not a great sign

[00:40:24] when your hard-hit profile

[00:40:27] isn't favoring you erin goldsmith

[00:40:29] just did one of those segments on

[00:40:31] social media for the mariners account

[00:40:32] today saying hard-hit baseballs

[00:40:35] are one of the most important things

[00:40:37] when judging a hitter it plays a lot

[00:40:40] it plays a big factor plays a lot of

[00:40:42] value and right now really

[00:40:44] it's great that he's hitting i hope

[00:40:46] he keeps it up i hope all the

[00:40:47] expected numbers and peripherals say

[00:40:49] it doesn't matter but he does need to

[00:40:53] barrel the ball up a little bit more

[00:40:54] than he's doing right now

[00:40:56] and you can manipulate it's not a

[00:41:00] purposeful manipulation of your savant

[00:41:02] page to make it look better we've talked

[00:41:04] isaac parades for example doesn't have

[00:41:05] a great savant page he's having a

[00:41:07] good year again he's hitting for

[00:41:08] power you don't need to hit the ball

[00:41:11] the hardest you just need to hit it

[00:41:12] in the right launch angle in the

[00:41:14] right direction at the right exit

[00:41:16] velocity to hit a home run doesn't

[00:41:17] need to be perfect

[00:41:18] just needs to be that combination

[00:41:21] but when you're not barreling the

[00:41:22] baseball like it just lowers the odds

[00:41:24] of you whenever you hit a ball in

[00:41:25] the air that actually leaves the

[00:41:26] ballpark it just like it will it would

[00:41:29] just more often lead to a pop-up on the

[00:41:30] infield than a home run over the fence

[00:41:32] and the mariners need home runs over

[00:41:35] the fence for luke rayleigh

[00:41:36] unfortunately too is batting average

[00:41:38] on balls and play which

[00:41:39] over his career and in the minor

[00:41:40] leagues he was a high babbip guy

[00:41:42] but it it as i mentioned earlier in

[00:41:46] a in a year where the league babbip

[00:41:48] is 288

[00:41:50] 349 is unsustainable it's going to

[00:41:52] come down the balls he's putting in

[00:41:53] play are not going to be hits

[00:41:55] very much more often they're going to

[00:41:56] it's it's going to take a sharp decline

[00:41:58] it's going to reflect on his numbers

[00:42:00] too and that's where when you

[00:42:01] regress when your balls in play go

[00:42:03] down

[00:42:04] that your walks will make up for it

[00:42:06] and he's not

[00:42:08] walking so that just that leads you

[00:42:11] to

[00:42:12] over the coming months either one of

[00:42:15] these things is going to correct

[00:42:16] itself

[00:42:17] either the luck the batted ball luck

[00:42:19] we've seen from luke rayleigh or

[00:42:21] his approach will iron out his good

[00:42:23] at bats will continue

[00:42:25] and he'll more consistently hit the

[00:42:27] ball harder while

[00:42:28] hopefully walking just a little bit

[00:42:30] just a little bit more

[00:42:32] to be a little bit more sustainable

[00:42:34] offensively because if the mariners

[00:42:35] can't

[00:42:36] get good production over the next

[00:42:39] couple of months months from luke

[00:42:40] rayleigh

[00:42:42] what else do you how are you going

[00:42:44] to manage this lineup then

[00:42:46] like that's just then another one of

[00:42:48] your productive hitters

[00:42:50] who falls back to the mean and there

[00:42:52] won't

[00:42:53] necessarily be someone there to pick up

[00:42:54] that production

[00:42:56] right and if he was hitting the ball a

[00:42:58] lot harder right now

[00:42:59] you would feel more comfortable about

[00:43:00] when his bad bib comes down but he's

[00:43:02] not hitting the ball hard right now

[00:43:03] he's not barreling it up

[00:43:04] so hopefully in the coming weeks that

[00:43:07] can change and maybe he'll start

[00:43:08] squaring it up a bit better

[00:43:10] but it's imperative that that

[00:43:12] happens

[00:43:13] because when that batted ball comes

[00:43:15] down and honestly you're already

[00:43:16] seeing it a little bit

[00:43:17] for as hot as he was in may and

[00:43:18] as good of good of a month as he had

[00:43:19] in may

[00:43:20] now the last week or so it's been a

[00:43:22] little more up and down

[00:43:23] is that some of the bad bib coming down

[00:43:25] we'll see

[00:43:26] but again he could really do himself

[00:43:28] a lot of justice

[00:43:30] by starting to square the ball up more

[00:43:32] consistently

[00:43:33] to iron out and and level

[00:43:36] out when the batted ball luck

[00:43:39] doesn't go in his favor because if

[00:43:40] he's hitting the ball hard

[00:43:41] he'll find hits anyway yeah it's easy

[00:43:44] your bad bib will go up if you

[00:43:46] keep hitting the ball hard but not

[00:43:48] not if you're doing what luke rayleigh

[00:43:49] is doing

[00:43:50] right now so i mean so here we are

[00:43:52] through the the three

[00:43:54] full-time hitters yeah that the

[00:43:56] mariners acquired

[00:43:57] right two have not lived up to

[00:43:59] expectations for the first two months

[00:44:01] one is uh met expectations i'll say

[00:44:04] and that's

[00:44:05] that's fine in a bad off okay so

[00:44:08] actually you know i'm retracting that

[00:44:09] that's not fine

[00:44:10] that's not fine maybe um i don't

[00:44:13] know the right word to use for this

[00:44:14] but

[00:44:15] adequate it is what it is it's

[00:44:16] average yeah sure maybe a

[00:44:18] 50th percentile out big

[00:44:20] outcome because in the end the mariners

[00:44:21] are sitting today in first place

[00:44:24] and they've managed they've managed to

[00:44:25] do it and it's not

[00:44:27] just these players who are bad the

[00:44:30] rest of the mariners lineup also

[00:44:31] has their struggle so it's not just

[00:44:33] the new mariner problem

[00:44:35] but yeah certainly maybe 50th

[00:44:37] percentile outcome for the

[00:44:38] mariners right now

[00:44:40] but the problem is for the mariners

[00:44:42] for the ult the success they

[00:44:43] ultimately want

[00:44:45] that number probably needed to start

[00:44:47] at 75th percentile and go up

[00:44:51] i will say though before we move on to

[00:44:53] the next guy last thing

[00:44:55] while rayleigh is hot at the moment

[00:44:57] why isn't he just playing every day

[00:45:00] he's got a higher wrc plus against

[00:45:02] lefties

[00:45:03] than righty he's got a 121 weighted

[00:45:05] runs created plus against left-handed

[00:45:06] pitching right now

[00:45:07] he's not playing against lefties i

[00:45:09] don't really get it because the

[00:45:10] guys look

[00:45:11] we we preface all our i guess

[00:45:14] questions like this

[00:45:16] by saying obviously we don't have all

[00:45:18] the data we don't have all the numbers

[00:45:19] we are not the mariners

[00:45:21] but from what we do have access to

[00:45:24] as a third party it is head

[00:45:27] scratching why

[00:45:28] for a lot of the guys that were

[00:45:30] supposed to be hitting lefties that

[00:45:31] aren't hitting lefties all that great

[00:45:33] why not just let rayleigh get more

[00:45:34] run

[00:45:37] i don't know i don't know why he's

[00:45:40] hitting i wish i did know

[00:45:42] yeah i don't know either what do you

[00:45:45] what was that last thing you said

[00:45:46] no it's like i i don't know i mean you

[00:45:48] could

[00:45:49] you could frame it as scott likes his

[00:45:52] handiness i mean we saw it against

[00:45:53] hater this week

[00:45:54] even though josh rojas this season is a

[00:45:56] better hitter than ryan bliss is

[00:45:58] josh hater is a lefty on the mound

[00:46:00] he's given up i think two hits to

[00:46:01] lefties all season doesn't matter if

[00:46:03] rojas has hit lefties well this

[00:46:05] season

[00:46:05] he'd rather go with a guy a righty

[00:46:07] who's yet to get a

[00:46:09] a career hit in the big leagues

[00:46:11] that's true

[00:46:13] all right let's let's move on to the

[00:46:14] fourth guy here

[00:46:15] louise urias this is the last hitter

[00:46:17] and we've got one pitcher

[00:46:19] so far this year louise urias has a 580

[00:46:22] ops

[00:46:22] three home runs a 76 wrc plus

[00:46:25] negative 0.1 f-war and he is

[00:46:28] currently with the tacoma reyneers

[00:46:30] as he was optioned down to triple a

[00:46:32] as of the last week or two has it

[00:46:35] been it's been it's been about a

[00:46:36] week right since he's been optioned

[00:46:37] yeah

[00:46:38] so he is currently not on the major

[00:46:41] league roster

[00:46:43] that is not good is it a hot take to

[00:46:46] stay

[00:46:46] say he's done his job louise urias was

[00:46:49] yeah

[00:46:50] brought in here to play third base and

[00:46:52] to hit lefties

[00:46:54] he has played third base and he's hit

[00:46:57] lefties

[00:46:59] 111 wrc plus against lefties this

[00:47:01] year

[00:47:02] and i'd say he looks fine over

[00:47:03] there at third base yeah he's in

[00:47:05] tacoma

[00:47:06] but like that's why he was brought

[00:47:08] into seattle

[00:47:10] so yeah like that unfortunately yeah

[00:47:13] there's some other numbers here but

[00:47:15] those are the two big things and he

[00:47:18] did them at

[00:47:18] in a net above average rate right

[00:47:22] so i will say about his defense it

[00:47:24] started to take a dip over the last

[00:47:25] week or two before he got demoted

[00:47:27] like it started not great in the

[00:47:28] first few games of the year

[00:47:30] then it picked up and then you

[00:47:32] started to see some erin throws

[00:47:33] again and maybe there was a couple

[00:47:34] balls he should have gotten to that

[00:47:35] he didn't get to

[00:47:36] so the defense has been up and down

[00:47:38] and he is at about negative three outs

[00:47:40] above average

[00:47:41] so his drs is slightly negative two so

[00:47:44] he hasn't been a great defender

[00:47:45] he hasn't been atrocious he's been

[00:47:48] he's been below average but fine to

[00:47:50] to your point about the bat

[00:47:53] yeah i'm not sure why he got all

[00:47:55] this run against right-handed

[00:47:56] pitching in the first two months

[00:47:59] just it's not it's not the right

[00:48:01] way to phrase it by saying it's not

[00:48:03] fair to him

[00:48:04] but it's not really what they

[00:48:05] brought him in here to do yes if

[00:48:07] you're a big leaguer

[00:48:08] you should be expected that if you're

[00:48:09] put in the lineup you can produce

[00:48:10] however his strengths are hitting

[00:48:12] lefties and like you said

[00:48:13] he's been well above average against

[00:48:15] lefties against righties he's been

[00:48:16] really bad

[00:48:17] so why did they continuously run him

[00:48:19] out there time after time

[00:48:21] against right-handed pitching i

[00:48:23] understand part of it was

[00:48:25] while palonko was on his day-to-day

[00:48:27] streak there

[00:48:28] like when they were in new york

[00:48:29] when they were on the road and he

[00:48:30] had the hamstring thing

[00:48:31] and they didn't put them on the il

[00:48:32] because they wanted to avoid that

[00:48:34] i understand that then louise areas

[00:48:36] had to play some third because it's

[00:48:37] lid rojas the second they had to

[00:48:38] maneuver some things and they had

[00:48:40] one less roster spot that they could

[00:48:42] use but that wasn't the only time he

[00:48:44] was seeing right-handed pitching

[00:48:46] so it was also because yeah so it was

[00:48:49] also because rojas was playing so well

[00:48:52] right but just so to wrap this up i

[00:48:55] i i'm very confused as to why

[00:48:59] he was seeing a lot of a lot of

[00:49:01] right-handed pitching i maybe he wants

[00:49:03] a bat maybe they really do want him

[00:49:04] to get a bats in to coma to get

[00:49:05] something straightened out

[00:49:06] but i wouldn't even i wouldn't even mess

[00:49:09] around with him hitting righties

[00:49:11] when there's a lefty in just put them

[00:49:12] in if there's a righty don't play them

[00:49:15] they want josh rojas was sitting so

[00:49:18] well

[00:49:18] the early parts of the season that he

[00:49:20] forced other guys

[00:49:22] out of their position so he could

[00:49:23] play like when he played left

[00:49:25] when he played second right i think he

[00:49:28] dh'd a couple times you need someone

[00:49:30] to play third

[00:49:31] so that was arias's job

[00:49:35] whether there was a lefty or righty on

[00:49:36] the mound so

[00:49:38] not even really his choice it's josh

[00:49:41] rojas being so much better

[00:49:43] than the rest of the lineup which

[00:49:44] had also struggled at that point

[00:49:46] that they needed to get his bat into

[00:49:48] lineup in as many places as possible

[00:49:50] which led to arias playing more

[00:49:53] right and it didn't work out because

[00:49:55] he's a negative what he's a negative

[00:49:57] war player

[00:49:58] 34 strikeout rate yeah but

[00:50:01] why so when rojas was playing as

[00:50:02] well as he was

[00:50:04] why again were they moving him around

[00:50:06] to other spots you're talking about

[00:50:08] to get him in the lineup why wasn't he

[00:50:09] just a third every day

[00:50:10] unless there was a lefty on the

[00:50:11] mound in which case yes that is when

[00:50:13] arias should be in the lineup

[00:50:15] why like why would they sacrifice

[00:50:18] the potential of louise arias

[00:50:22] not doing what he's there to do best

[00:50:24] and kind of expose them against

[00:50:26] righties

[00:50:27] because at that point he had had a

[00:50:28] couple of home runs

[00:50:30] he had had his big swings in big moments

[00:50:33] and the rest of the mariners lineup was

[00:50:35] not swinging very well

[00:50:37] so they needed an opportunity to get

[00:50:40] their third base platoon at that point

[00:50:41] had had a collective like 115ish wrc

[00:50:44] plus

[00:50:45] and they wanted them both playing

[00:50:47] because the rest of the mariners

[00:50:48] lineup wasn't hitting

[00:50:50] i know and ultimately that let that

[00:50:53] exposed arias to

[00:50:54] too many righties right right and

[00:50:58] the numbers against righties are really

[00:51:00] really tough to look at we're talking

[00:51:01] about a 43 wrc plus

[00:51:04] and the strikeouts are just out of

[00:51:05] control against right-handed pitching

[00:51:07] you're talking about nearly 35 and a

[00:51:08] half percent striking out against

[00:51:10] right-handed pitching

[00:51:11] so oh and and for a guy that

[00:51:13] usually walks about 10 percent of the

[00:51:15] time in arias

[00:51:16] he was walking four percent of the

[00:51:17] time against righties so allow me to

[00:51:18] say this again

[00:51:20] i know we're not the mariners i

[00:51:21] know we don't make the decisions and i

[00:51:23] understand we don't have all the data

[00:51:24] but if it was up to us and the

[00:51:27] information we have

[00:51:28] when arias eventually comes back up

[00:51:29] because i'm sure he will be back on the

[00:51:31] big league roster at some point this

[00:51:32] year

[00:51:33] just have him hit lefties if there's

[00:51:36] a righty

[00:51:37] don't don't even bother put get

[00:51:39] somebody else in

[00:51:40] because it clearly is not what he

[00:51:43] is built to do in terms of his

[00:51:45] strength

[00:51:46] i feel like i'm like a i'm like one

[00:51:48] of those

[00:51:49] dolls with the the talker and you

[00:51:51] pull the string

[00:51:53] when i say this again how does a guy

[00:51:55] with a career 22 percent strikeout rate

[00:51:58] all of a sudden at age 27 strike out

[00:52:00] 34 percent of the time

[00:52:02] how i don't know yeah and that's yeah

[00:52:06] so

[00:52:07] i mentioned the 35 and a half percent

[00:52:08] k-rate against righties he's striking

[00:52:10] out 35 and a half percent of the time

[00:52:11] but what tj just mentioned no that's

[00:52:13] his season

[00:52:14] strikeout rate 34 and a half percent

[00:52:16] which now i'm the talking doll

[00:52:19] his strikeout rate is out of control

[00:52:21] this season and i don't know why

[00:52:24] 22 percent for his career 22 percent

[00:52:27] that's below league average but all

[00:52:30] all of a sudden 34

[00:52:33] percent that is that's absurd i mean

[00:52:36] we're talking some numbers here we've

[00:52:38] talked some numbers today that blow

[00:52:39] jared's number jared kelnick's

[00:52:40] strikeout numbers which we spent a

[00:52:42] lot of time last year talking about

[00:52:44] out of the water

[00:52:46] and for arias it's fastballs and

[00:52:49] sliders that have totally eaten

[00:52:50] eating them alive he is slugging

[00:52:53] about 200 against four seamers and he

[00:52:56] is slugging

[00:52:57] get this oh 71 against sliders

[00:53:01] those two pitches he sees more than

[00:53:03] any pitch

[00:53:04] period that's what he sees the most

[00:53:07] and against the pitch that

[00:53:09] he's often seeing at bat after a bat

[00:53:11] after a bat

[00:53:12] he is slugging oh 71 for the year

[00:53:13] against sliders

[00:53:16] it's funny i'm going to say all that

[00:53:18] and i still i'm sit here and say at

[00:53:20] the end i think louis arias

[00:53:21] did his job for those two months he

[00:53:24] did what he was supposed to

[00:53:26] i i would like to see what his

[00:53:29] numbers would have been through two

[00:53:30] months

[00:53:31] had he never seen it at bat against

[00:53:33] the right-handed pitcher

[00:53:34] i bet you his wars not in the

[00:53:35] negative if if he'd only seen lefties

[00:53:37] i bet you his wrc plus actually we

[00:53:40] know his wrc plus wouldn't be 76 if

[00:53:42] he was only seeing lefties it'd be

[00:53:43] 111

[00:53:44] yeah i'm sure his ops wouldn't be 580

[00:53:47] it would be higher i

[00:53:50] maybe they felt like a strictly

[00:53:52] platoon infielder

[00:53:54] was hampering their ability to mix and

[00:53:57] match their roster

[00:53:58] because arias can't really play

[00:53:59] anywhere else on the infield he was

[00:54:00] only playing third base

[00:54:02] maybe if in a pinch if you needed

[00:54:03] him to play second he plays second

[00:54:05] but they're not running them out

[00:54:06] there to start games at second base

[00:54:08] so maybe they felt like getting him

[00:54:09] some more bats into coma

[00:54:11] could potentially straighten some

[00:54:12] things out for him but

[00:54:15] yeah i agree he did his job when he

[00:54:17] was facing lefties

[00:54:18] but overall the numbers just aren't

[00:54:20] pretty yeah

[00:54:22] but that was his job lefties that was

[00:54:24] his job and then the job description

[00:54:26] changed

[00:54:27] right so another another hitter who

[00:54:32] it's been a tough watch through two

[00:54:33] months for some reasons that are out

[00:54:35] of his control it's been a tough

[00:54:36] watch

[00:54:37] and we don't have answers i like

[00:54:38] really wish we had answers to some

[00:54:40] of these things but we don't let's

[00:54:42] send on more of a high note

[00:54:43] let's go to the bullpen ryan stanick

[00:54:45] 22 games a 4 2 6 e.r.a. in 19 innings

[00:54:50] has been worth a fifth of a fan graphs

[00:54:53] win above replacement 0.2 striking out

[00:54:56] batters at a 24 percent clip and

[00:54:58] walking them

[00:55:00] at a 7 percent clip i said high no i

[00:55:03] know that not everybody has been a

[00:55:05] huge fan of what ryan stanick has

[00:55:07] done

[00:55:07] this season but i'm gonna be honest

[00:55:10] i've liked it i think he's evolved i

[00:55:13] think he's doing things here in

[00:55:14] seattle

[00:55:15] he hasn't done in his career in a

[00:55:17] positive manner

[00:55:18] and i think that outside of andres

[00:55:21] munos it's

[00:55:22] of the utmost importance he keeps

[00:55:25] pitching in that mariners bullpen

[00:55:26] because he offers things other guys

[00:55:28] cannot

[00:55:30] like his pure stuff you want to dive

[00:55:32] into that

[00:55:33] yeah his he has the best stuff on

[00:55:35] the team

[00:55:36] by far when they when they signed him

[00:55:40] we touched on this a little bit but

[00:55:41] just to paint the picture stuff plus

[00:55:44] which fan graphs grades each

[00:55:46] individual pitchers quote unquote

[00:55:49] stuff like the pitch shape the pitch

[00:55:51] velocity doesn't take into account

[00:55:53] result or location

[00:55:55] overall for all of his pitches ryan

[00:55:58] stanick has a stuff plus of 135

[00:56:02] note andres munos is not above him

[00:56:04] nope

[00:56:05] logan gilbert is next at 121 and by

[00:56:08] the way stuff plus

[00:56:09] 100s league average it's like wrc

[00:56:11] plus higher is better lower is worse

[00:56:14] ryan stanick's overall stuff and all

[00:56:16] of his pitches his fastball

[00:56:18] his slider his splitter and now his

[00:56:21] sinker have led him to a 135

[00:56:25] stuff plus it's pretty good and you

[00:56:28] really like his sinker

[00:56:29] i know as he starts to unveil it

[00:56:33] and as he started to use it a

[00:56:34] little bit here which it is a new

[00:56:36] pitch but i know you talked about it

[00:56:37] and you tweeted about it the other

[00:56:38] day talking about

[00:56:40] oh this is this is a new

[00:56:41] development that could pay dividends

[00:56:43] for him i didn't even pick up on it

[00:56:45] really if you think about it to make

[00:56:46] sense because

[00:56:47] almost every picture on this roster now

[00:56:50] throws a sinker and it

[00:56:53] i i read the top two overall and

[00:56:55] stuff plus those are the only two guys

[00:56:57] really they don't throw a sinker

[00:56:59] i don't know is there anyone else

[00:57:00] who doesn't

[00:57:02] hmm no i'm not not that i can think

[00:57:04] of

[00:57:05] exactly it's been one of the

[00:57:06] evolutions of this mariner's pitching

[00:57:08] staff

[00:57:08] getting like combining the strikeout

[00:57:10] rate with a lot of ground balls

[00:57:13] stanick a veteran guy he doesn't have

[00:57:16] to come in here

[00:57:17] and learn a new pitch and ultimately

[00:57:20] he's thrown nine sinkers this year

[00:57:22] in 19 innings it's not a lot i don't

[00:57:25] think it's ever going to be his

[00:57:26] primary pitch

[00:57:27] but work it in sure in the one for

[00:57:30] example he threw this week

[00:57:32] he throws a two seamer that looked

[00:57:34] like it was off the outside corner

[00:57:36] breaks back in at 96 and catches the

[00:57:38] plate for a strike

[00:57:40] it's a different movement profile than

[00:57:42] all of his other pitches

[00:57:44] and if there's one thing ryan stanick

[00:57:46] hasn't done in his career it's generate

[00:57:48] ground balls and this year he also

[00:57:49] still hasn't really generated ground

[00:57:51] balls

[00:57:52] well when your pitches are a swing

[00:57:55] and miss slider

[00:57:56] a swing and miss splitter and a

[00:57:58] four seam fastball that you throw

[00:57:59] primarily at the top of the zone

[00:58:00] you're not going to get very many

[00:58:01] ground balls it's just not a ground

[00:58:03] ball profile

[00:58:04] but if he wants more ground balls

[00:58:06] the sinker is the pitch for it and

[00:58:08] we've seen him

[00:58:09] throw you know more and more and the

[00:58:11] movement profile is good stuff plus

[00:58:13] does not like it i'll say

[00:58:14] in the nine pitches i think it's 86

[00:58:17] it's not great but you know stuff plus

[00:58:20] isn't the end all be all ultimately

[00:58:22] it's also where you throw the pitch

[00:58:26] i like the fact for ryan stanick that

[00:58:28] he has given up a lot less home runs

[00:58:30] than he has in years past

[00:58:32] and he's walking a lot less guys now

[00:58:34] i know his command isn't always

[00:58:35] perfect

[00:58:36] but when it's all said and done he

[00:58:37] is walking less guys which is

[00:58:39] something that i know people had their

[00:58:41] questions about

[00:58:41] when he came in here he's not a

[00:58:43] mariners typical profile type reliever

[00:58:46] where you're spotting up the zone all

[00:58:48] the time

[00:58:48] gabe spyer last year right he set

[00:58:50] records in first pitch strike

[00:58:51] throwing that's not really what

[00:58:52] stanick does

[00:58:53] but the walks are down home runs a

[00:58:55] louder down

[00:58:57] and he's actually fared very well

[00:58:58] against lefty so far this year

[00:59:00] so there is a lot about stanick

[00:59:02] that while it might not be an

[00:59:04] andres munoz type of profile this

[00:59:06] year

[00:59:08] you mentioned it it is it is so

[00:59:09] important that he keeps pitching well

[00:59:11] because past munoz right now he may be

[00:59:14] relied upon

[00:59:15] the most in high leverage situations

[00:59:17] when he's at his best

[00:59:19] that is your highest upside reliever

[00:59:20] and because they don't have gregory

[00:59:22] santos back because matt brash is

[00:59:23] not going to pitch this year

[00:59:25] there's going to be times here in

[00:59:27] the month of june or until santos

[00:59:29] gets back

[00:59:30] they're really going to need stanick

[00:59:31] they have other guys that can throw

[00:59:33] in some leverage too like gabe like

[00:59:34] sauce like trent thorton

[00:59:37] but they really need ryan stanick

[00:59:38] and if he's walking less guys and giving

[00:59:40] up less home runs

[00:59:41] it's a good start and especially when

[00:59:43] you look at the fact that some of his

[00:59:44] expected numbers

[00:59:46] actually say he's been a little bit

[00:59:47] unlucky too it's also a good sign

[00:59:49] he has a 426 e.r.a right now his

[00:59:52] fifth 355

[00:59:54] so things like that say there's

[00:59:55] actually room for him to come back

[00:59:57] down to earth

[00:59:57] and there's belief that he will give

[01:00:00] the walk rate some context too seven

[01:00:02] percent

[01:00:02] is the walk rate like gabe the

[01:00:04] ultimate strike throwers at five

[01:00:06] percent last year it's not that much

[01:00:08] difference

[01:00:08] right over the course of the season

[01:00:10] that's

[01:00:12] six seven eight walks

[01:00:15] it's not that not that many might be

[01:00:17] less than that

[01:00:18] so that's good and

[01:00:22] his his pitches have evolved like not

[01:00:24] it hasn't been chalk

[01:00:25] for how his pitches have played this

[01:00:27] year for example his fastball is not

[01:00:29] getting as much swing and miss this

[01:00:30] year

[01:00:30] the splitter is making up for it and

[01:00:32] that's where all that chase comes from

[01:00:35] and the few home runs he has

[01:00:36] allowed have come

[01:00:37] in opportune times and with runners on

[01:00:39] that's why his e.r.a is so high but as

[01:00:41] a reliever remember

[01:00:42] he's only thrown 19 innings so when

[01:00:44] you have an e.r.a like that it takes

[01:00:46] two swings to make your e.r.a go

[01:00:48] from elite to bad

[01:00:50] so you have that for stanick and

[01:00:55] i'm just like it just makes me

[01:00:56] appreciate it more with everyone out

[01:00:58] of how good ryan stanick could be

[01:01:00] really and even if he's not going

[01:01:03] fully implement that sinker i think i

[01:01:06] mean the stuff overall the three

[01:01:07] pitches he has

[01:01:08] are are too good for him to not be the

[01:01:11] second most used reliever

[01:01:13] on this team so i mean overall here

[01:01:16] for the first

[01:01:18] two months of ryan stanick's mariners

[01:01:19] career

[01:01:21] good like we end on a high note

[01:01:25] mm-hmm and the mariners are going to

[01:01:27] need them

[01:01:28] i know not everybody on twitter can

[01:01:30] agree on a whole lot we've seen that

[01:01:31] in mariners world too many times but

[01:01:34] i would appreciate ryan stanick if i

[01:01:36] were out there

[01:01:36] to you guys listening more than you

[01:01:38] might already be doing right now

[01:01:40] because not only has he been better

[01:01:42] than you probably realized

[01:01:43] but they're going to need him a lot

[01:01:46] all year

[01:01:47] so given everything that he brings to

[01:01:49] the table

[01:01:51] it's a very very good thing that he's

[01:01:52] here think of it this way

[01:01:54] if he wasn't on the roster he would

[01:01:56] be the guy you would want jerry and

[01:01:58] justin to go trade for right now

[01:02:01] yeah sure now they can still go trade

[01:02:04] for another high leverage reliever if

[01:02:05] they want they do and they still need

[01:02:06] to

[01:02:08] but you've already gotten one step

[01:02:10] ahead of the curve by already having

[01:02:12] stanick here

[01:02:13] yeah so yep yeah well i would say

[01:02:17] that just about wraps up

[01:02:19] our first third of the year

[01:02:21] evaluations of the newcomers

[01:02:22] we'll see when we do another

[01:02:23] evaluation i remember last year we

[01:02:25] did one halfway through the year on

[01:02:26] some guys maybe we'll do that at

[01:02:27] some point around the all-star break

[01:02:29] we'll see

[01:02:29] but i think in conclusion they need

[01:02:32] more out of the offense shocking

[01:02:34] development i know we've never said

[01:02:35] that on the podcast this year it took us an

[01:02:37] hour to realize

[01:02:38] man wow they could really score some

[01:02:40] more runs uh-huh

[01:02:42] that's the conclusion people so

[01:02:44] hopefully you guys learn some stuff

[01:02:45] from that hopefully some of these guys

[01:02:47] turn around

[01:02:48] hopefully jorge palanco does have the

[01:02:49] semi in effect where

[01:02:51] everything starts to click for him

[01:02:52] once he gets off the il and come the

[01:02:53] second half of the year but we'll

[01:02:54] see

[01:02:56] in the meantime while we want to stay

[01:02:57] on a high note let's go down on

[01:02:59] the farm here

[01:03:03] because there are a couple guys that

[01:03:05] have been

[01:03:06] killing it in the minor leagues right

[01:03:07] now you're gonna highlight one

[01:03:09] i'm gonna highlight one i'll let you

[01:03:11] start

[01:03:12] let's start off with johnny farmelo

[01:03:14] shout out to this kid first of all a

[01:03:17] plus human

[01:03:17] super nice guy met him down at

[01:03:20] spring training

[01:03:21] and he's gone to modesto in in a

[01:03:24] really bad injury year for modesto

[01:03:26] and for mariners prospects and for

[01:03:27] his draft class type pete smith's time

[01:03:29] colt emerson's currently on the il

[01:03:31] but all johnny farmelo has done

[01:03:34] is over his last 20 games running on a

[01:03:36] 940 ops

[01:03:38] this dude's an absolute speed demon on

[01:03:40] the base paths

[01:03:42] he controls the strike zone 15 walks

[01:03:44] 22 strikeouts

[01:03:46] and overall in the season as a 19

[01:03:48] year old

[01:03:49] has a 424 on base percentage that's

[01:03:52] pretty good folks

[01:03:53] for a first full year pro to reach

[01:03:56] base

[01:03:57] 40 percent of the time again lineups

[01:04:00] still loaded for modesto but you

[01:04:01] had some promotions

[01:04:03] you've had some injuries and yet

[01:04:05] through it all johnny farmelo has

[01:04:06] continued

[01:04:08] to mash opposing cal league pitchers

[01:04:12] he's got real star upside

[01:04:15] in his profile will he 100% sure

[01:04:17] fire become a star

[01:04:19] we can't guarantee that but between

[01:04:21] he does have power

[01:04:22] he runs incredibly well the way he

[01:04:25] tracks balls in the outfield too like

[01:04:26] like the speed combined with his

[01:04:28] real ability to play center field

[01:04:30] there is a real star in that profile if

[01:04:33] everything clicks and you're seeing it

[01:04:34] right now at 19 years old modesto so

[01:04:36] that's pretty exciting

[01:04:38] i didn't realize the the his control

[01:04:41] the strike zone is

[01:04:43] excellent i mean really

[01:04:46] there's it's it's all the profile you

[01:04:48] want in a leadoff hitter

[01:04:49] really speed on base and

[01:04:52] in power as well it's it's a good

[01:04:55] combo to have

[01:04:56] really good combo so again we'll see

[01:04:59] how he continues to develop

[01:05:00] but you're talking about a guy who has a

[01:05:03] real chance to make a true impact and

[01:05:05] if the mariners had two first rounders

[01:05:07] in this class

[01:05:08] in emerson and farmelo for example who

[01:05:10] come up and make real impact

[01:05:12] we're going to talk about that draft

[01:05:13] class for a long time actually

[01:05:15] while we're on the topic this isn't

[01:05:16] my guy but shout out aiden smith too

[01:05:18] who kind of gets forgotten in this

[01:05:19] draft class because you have three

[01:05:20] first rounders

[01:05:21] with colt emerson johnny farmelo

[01:05:23] typeete they talk about in a normal

[01:05:25] year

[01:05:26] because they felt like last year's

[01:05:27] draft class was just loaded

[01:05:29] that aiden smith in most years would be

[01:05:30] a first rounder they snagged him in the

[01:05:32] fourth round

[01:05:33] gave him a good chunk of money to get

[01:05:35] him to decommit from college

[01:05:36] go to the pros he's been tearing it

[01:05:39] up in modesto too

[01:05:40] so like this draft class of high

[01:05:42] school hitters that they got

[01:05:43] it's going to be really fun to

[01:05:45] watch for a long time

[01:05:46] 10 years from now lial people are

[01:05:48] going to look back on this modesto

[01:05:49] roster and be like

[01:05:52] i hope so that'd be good for the

[01:05:55] mariners

[01:05:55] yeah i hope so too meanwhile while those

[01:05:59] guys are crushing it in modesto

[01:06:01] the guy i'm going to highlight it's

[01:06:03] almost too easy of a pick

[01:06:05] yet we're going to pick it anyway

[01:06:06] it's going to be logan evans our guy

[01:06:09] who continues to

[01:06:10] just tear it up in arkansas for a

[01:06:13] guy that when we saw he was getting

[01:06:14] promoted to arkansas after throwing

[01:06:16] about 15 pro innings after getting

[01:06:18] drafted last year

[01:06:19] in which he really struggled

[01:06:20] throughout his college career we're

[01:06:22] like man

[01:06:23] it's an aggressive promotion i know we

[01:06:24] had a great spring

[01:06:25] i know he was kind of the talk of minor

[01:06:27] league camp in terms of pitchers with

[01:06:28] how

[01:06:29] well he was throwing the ball but we

[01:06:30] were like man they're they're really

[01:06:32] pushing them

[01:06:33] well here we are on may the 30th he

[01:06:36] has a

[01:06:37] 123era with the arkansas travelers

[01:06:42] this dude for the month of may had an

[01:06:44] 0.63 earned run average and after a

[01:06:48] month of april

[01:06:49] we're sure there was a little bit

[01:06:50] of an adjustment period despite him

[01:06:51] not giving up a ton of runs

[01:06:53] there were times where he'd give up a

[01:06:54] few walks maybe his strikeouts weren't

[01:06:56] that high

[01:06:58] here we now sit in may he walked four

[01:07:01] guys for the month

[01:07:02] and struck out 33 and a little over

[01:07:05] 28 innings pitched

[01:07:07] this guy like it's too easy for him

[01:07:09] double a all of a sudden

[01:07:10] i have a legitimate question i'd like

[01:07:12] to propose it to friend of the pod

[01:07:14] logan evans who

[01:07:15] yeah again just awesome dude and then

[01:07:17] to like a pro scout like what

[01:07:20] honestly what is what would be left

[01:07:22] for him in in double a

[01:07:24] will be left like another two months of

[01:07:25] success

[01:07:27] like seriously we're like we're talking

[01:07:30] about

[01:07:30] 15 pro innings initially blaze through

[01:07:33] them

[01:07:34] and now we sit in triple a again and

[01:07:35] it's like clearly

[01:07:37] as he told us here on this very

[01:07:39] platform

[01:07:41] the mariners ideas around pitching

[01:07:43] really clicked with him

[01:07:45] everything all the work he's put in

[01:07:47] since getting drafted

[01:07:49] to get him to this point have clearly

[01:07:51] worked and they've worked

[01:07:53] almost as good as we have seen on a

[01:07:55] pitcher in the mariners minor league

[01:07:56] system

[01:07:57] and we're talking about a team with a

[01:07:59] starting rotation of four homegrown

[01:08:01] guys right now

[01:08:01] legitimately and yet it might lial have

[01:08:04] not clicked with anyone more

[01:08:07] than logan evans brice miller and

[01:08:09] brian were weren't this good in

[01:08:11] double a

[01:08:12] no like we're talking clicked

[01:08:16] right so i'm like i'm legitimately

[01:08:17] asking logan and a scout

[01:08:20] what else needs to be done i'm honestly

[01:08:22] curious

[01:08:23] not even logan or george threw this

[01:08:26] well in double a not in terms of the

[01:08:27] numbers they put up

[01:08:29] their stuff might be a little bit

[01:08:30] better but like they weren't putting

[01:08:31] up a one two e r a

[01:08:33] those guys were first round picks so

[01:08:35] that's why that's why i chose

[01:08:37] bryce and brian yeah okay fair but

[01:08:41] yeah man maybe maybe still refining

[01:08:44] some command maybe sharpening up a

[01:08:46] few of his pitches because we know

[01:08:47] he has a ridiculously large arsenal

[01:08:49] what did logan tell us he throws six or

[01:08:50] seven pitches

[01:08:51] which is pretty nuts so maybe there's

[01:08:54] still a few things he can

[01:08:55] make a little more crisp and sharpen up

[01:08:57] a little bit but

[01:08:58] i'll tell you i know we've talked

[01:09:00] about it i know some other people

[01:09:01] have talked about it in terms of

[01:09:03] he may be in the bullpen by the

[01:09:05] end of the year and while i

[01:09:07] absolutely think long term his

[01:09:08] profile is a starter

[01:09:11] i think it really used them in the

[01:09:12] bullpen i'll tell you what

[01:09:14] because that is an electric arm

[01:09:17] we're going to really quickly go from

[01:09:19] maybe in the bullpen until he will be

[01:09:20] in the bullpen again i'm legitimately

[01:09:22] wondering

[01:09:23] like what what's the countdown on that

[01:09:26] seriously he's everything they need in

[01:09:28] the bullpen

[01:09:29] yeah so again i would assume there is

[01:09:31] a certain number of innings they

[01:09:33] want to build him up to as a

[01:09:34] starter because again

[01:09:35] he didn't throw this level innings

[01:09:37] in college he threw 15 innings in

[01:09:38] the pros last year

[01:09:39] i'm sure there's an amount of

[01:09:40] innings they want to get him to

[01:09:42] as a starter in double a so he has

[01:09:44] built up long term as a starter

[01:09:46] but then once he gets closer to that

[01:09:48] innings limit

[01:09:49] the mariners may say all right logan

[01:09:51] we need you in the bullpen

[01:09:53] yes you're a starter long term but

[01:09:54] for 2024

[01:09:56] you're going to be pitching out of

[01:09:57] relief just like dustin may did when

[01:09:58] he got called up

[01:10:00] you were out of the bullpen and he

[01:10:01] provided a lot of value

[01:10:03] and if that happens i'm going to be

[01:10:06] fired up for him

[01:10:07] that's yeah that's going to be

[01:10:08] that's going to be awesome again

[01:10:10] they could

[01:10:11] they could really really use him

[01:10:13] good on the farm segment dog but i

[01:10:14] think we have a more important one

[01:10:16] as great as johnny and logan are

[01:10:18] our russell wilson umpire of the week

[01:10:21] will somehow top that let's get to our

[01:10:23] russell wilson umpire of the week

[01:10:26] what a historic week

[01:10:29] in the land of this podcast and this

[01:10:33] very award right here lyle would you

[01:10:36] like to take it away

[01:10:38] angel hernandez is no longer

[01:10:42] a major league baseball umpire he is

[01:10:44] retired he is done he is out of the

[01:10:47] league

[01:10:48] good fucking riddance

[01:10:51] i never thought this day was would

[01:10:53] come i i feel like he had like 10

[01:10:55] years left if he wanted to

[01:10:56] but obviously not what do we think

[01:10:58] the last straw was was it that

[01:11:00] link for that bat

[01:11:01] was that the last straw was that

[01:11:02] when manfred and his attorneys

[01:11:05] walked up and to the umpire's union

[01:11:07] was like

[01:11:08] what's the number oh do you think this

[01:11:12] was a major league baseball decision

[01:11:14] or do you think

[01:11:14] angel hernandez just walked away i

[01:11:16] guess i hadn't really thought about

[01:11:17] this i figured he was a financial

[01:11:19] settlement so he didn't just walk away

[01:11:21] and took nothing he got bought out oh

[01:11:25] that's right

[01:11:25] that's right oh yeah i would then say

[01:11:28] yes

[01:11:29] probably the wyatt langford at bat

[01:11:30] when you have three pitches that far

[01:11:32] outside the strike zone and every

[01:11:33] single one of them gets called a

[01:11:35] strike

[01:11:37] like enough was enough now i do know

[01:11:39] that if

[01:11:40] angel didn't want to retire he

[01:11:42] wouldn't and he'd still be umpiring

[01:11:44] i think like that the union gives them

[01:11:46] that right

[01:11:48] to if they want to continue umpiring

[01:11:50] they would continue but it sounded

[01:11:53] like angel had this on his mind too i

[01:11:54] don't maybe every

[01:11:56] everything wore on him which well

[01:11:59] he wasn't very good so it

[01:12:02] it added up and he lived online he

[01:12:05] could hear it from all the fans

[01:12:06] every time he went into the ball

[01:12:07] park that stuff does that up

[01:12:09] you know it's funny too like it just

[01:12:11] kept getting pointed out he wasn't even

[01:12:12] the worst umpire

[01:12:15] he was the most notable one cb

[01:12:18] buckner

[01:12:19] in terms of actual worst he wasn't

[01:12:20] their worst umpires

[01:12:22] is it is it cb buckner i don't know

[01:12:24] who's actually the worst but angel

[01:12:25] was not

[01:12:26] i think the worst hmm so it's

[01:12:28] interesting but he is the most

[01:12:30] famous because somehow some way he

[01:12:32] always ends up in the biggest spots

[01:12:34] i i was rewatching some of his

[01:12:36] worst ones

[01:12:37] and what was it was the al ds red

[01:12:40] socks yankees where he got three

[01:12:42] consecutive calls wrong at first base

[01:12:45] i i was watching that same video and

[01:12:48] i'd forgotten about this one for a

[01:12:50] while

[01:12:50] that strike he called on eric ibar in

[01:12:53] the world baseball classic

[01:12:54] might be the single worst baller

[01:12:56] strike call i have ever seen

[01:12:59] if you if you have not seen this

[01:13:00] video there is an angel hernandez

[01:13:03] like compilation of some of his

[01:13:07] absolute worst calls throughout his

[01:13:08] career and in there

[01:13:09] is this world baseball classic where he

[01:13:11] rings up i bar

[01:13:12] and i mean i'm talking this ball is

[01:13:15] literally

[01:13:16] literally in the dirt and he calls it

[01:13:18] a strike

[01:13:19] what was your reaction to joe west

[01:13:21] saying angel wasn't actually that bad

[01:13:23] oh shocker another terrible umpire

[01:13:25] thought a terrible umpire wasn't bad

[01:13:28] wow yeah what's next is joe west

[01:13:31] are joe west and angel hernandez

[01:13:33] gonna put out a dual statement when

[01:13:35] cb buckner retires and say

[01:13:37] cb buckner wasn't actually that bad

[01:13:40] is angel hernandez gonna now be a part

[01:13:42] of joe west's podcast

[01:13:44] no he might have to be i'll tell you

[01:13:46] what that would get clicks angel

[01:13:47] hernandez and joe west on a podcast

[01:13:51] be an interesting mix not gonna lie

[01:13:55] i'd listen but probably not more than

[01:13:58] once

[01:13:58] yeah probably yeah that's probably a

[01:14:00] that's probably a one and done

[01:14:02] it is a shame though because this is

[01:14:04] going to be the last time angels

[01:14:05] featured on the segment

[01:14:08] is that set in i guess not

[01:14:12] he was always our fallback guy if we

[01:14:14] had nobody to pick out

[01:14:16] from just a week of atrocious umpiring

[01:14:19] we could always fall back and say

[01:14:22] what did angel do this week

[01:14:23] not anymore we're we're out of luck

[01:14:26] no more angel hernandez slender that

[01:14:28] like this is these are our oh these

[01:14:30] are our last licks

[01:14:32] i hit my other computer that i have

[01:14:33] my notes on oh well um

[01:14:35] these are our last licks so we got to get

[01:14:38] them in

[01:14:40] man i i would say we'll miss you but i

[01:14:43] don't think we will angel

[01:14:44] so enjoy retirement i'm sure you got a

[01:14:46] nice chunk of change to walk away

[01:14:48] from the game and

[01:14:50] yeah i guess we'll see we're gonna

[01:14:51] have to now all of our focus is

[01:14:52] going to be on cb buckner

[01:14:54] from here on out cb you are the man

[01:14:58] yes he is listen what did what did

[01:15:00] p carol say all those years

[01:15:02] next man up next one guy one guy

[01:15:05] steps out

[01:15:06] it's your job now cb you take the

[01:15:08] crown you gotta put that king's crown

[01:15:10] right on top of your head you are now

[01:15:13] the poster boy umpire in baseball

[01:15:16] let's close out the show now and get

[01:15:18] to speak your mind

[01:15:20] speak your mind spoke that would be

[01:15:26] unwise

[01:15:27] what is necessary is never unwise

[01:15:31] lial what is on your mind this week

[01:15:34] i think we're going to combine for

[01:15:36] this one because we wanted to talk about

[01:15:39] this jorge lopez thing which is just a

[01:15:41] crazy situation all in one so we

[01:15:44] figure we just use this segment to

[01:15:45] break it down if you missed it

[01:15:48] lopez had a really bad outing with the

[01:15:49] mets he gets taken out

[01:15:52] he ends up getting so mad about it

[01:15:53] he chucks his glove into the stands

[01:15:56] and then it only gets worse from

[01:15:57] there you would think oh this guy

[01:15:59] just had a meltdown and chucks his

[01:16:00] glove into the crowd

[01:16:02] that's the extent of it no then in

[01:16:04] his press conference

[01:16:06] he said what people thought was

[01:16:09] i am on the worst team in major league

[01:16:11] baseball

[01:16:12] however some of his words got a

[01:16:16] little bit chopped up

[01:16:17] there wasn't an interpreter there with

[01:16:19] them it turns out later on that's not

[01:16:21] what he was trying to say

[01:16:23] yet the mets still df8 him

[01:16:26] so yeah let's let's start from the

[01:16:28] beginning so he pitch he's pitching

[01:16:30] serves up a homer to shohei gets

[01:16:32] thrown out by the third base umpire

[01:16:34] as he's walking off chucks his glove

[01:16:37] into the stands i think the glove

[01:16:39] ultimately is what the mets will

[01:16:41] justify as the reason for df aing

[01:16:43] him

[01:16:44] they didn't really probably love his

[01:16:45] outburst at the end of the game

[01:16:47] but what pr staffs are supposed to do

[01:16:52] or at least attempt to do is to

[01:16:55] handle

[01:16:56] mitigate situations like this and

[01:17:00] well the mets obviously didn't go do

[01:17:02] a very good job

[01:17:03] you would think right they have a

[01:17:06] pissed off reliever who just got thrown

[01:17:08] out of the game

[01:17:09] like at the very least you would think

[01:17:12] when the swarm of media comes to him

[01:17:14] that even though these are big

[01:17:15] leaguers and big leaguers do

[01:17:16] interviews with scrums of media all

[01:17:18] the time without pr guys standing

[01:17:19] there

[01:17:20] that he could handle it but you know

[01:17:22] emotions run high

[01:17:24] whatsoever the fact that it is

[01:17:26] clearly known that this is

[01:17:28] english is his second language and

[01:17:30] yet he's put in there with the

[01:17:31] scrimmage reporters facing all these

[01:17:32] questions and high pressure like

[01:17:35] new york they just eat you alive man

[01:17:36] and he's question question question

[01:17:38] question question and there's so many

[01:17:40] people

[01:17:40] you could just you feel congested

[01:17:42] with all the people around you and

[01:17:45] in a mistake of his misconstrued his

[01:17:48] words and he gets

[01:17:49] df8 for and it's it's a terrible

[01:17:51] situation because

[01:17:53] like it came out today i believe on

[01:17:56] thursday that

[01:17:57] like he's under a ton of stress

[01:17:58] because his kid is on a

[01:18:01] organ transplant list and he's like

[01:18:04] waiting patiently for

[01:18:07] their his kid to get get a

[01:18:08] transplant it's a terrible thing for

[01:18:10] anyone anyone to go through

[01:18:12] and it ended up with the mets now

[01:18:15] again dfaing him

[01:18:17] he might get picked up that'd be

[01:18:18] fine he's been a fine reliever

[01:18:20] in his career he's having an okay year

[01:18:22] and he could end up somewhere but the

[01:18:25] whole situation

[01:18:27] well it just yeah it overall i think

[01:18:30] shined a bad light on the mets

[01:18:31] it did i mean it showed that when

[01:18:35] carlos mendoza their manager comes

[01:18:37] out like well this is unacceptable

[01:18:38] yeah like

[01:18:40] like felt like it felt like the

[01:18:42] mets had no control over the

[01:18:44] situation where a strong clubhouse

[01:18:46] does

[01:18:47] and the ments apparently didn't and

[01:18:49] again let's remember some things the

[01:18:51] mess

[01:18:52] they have a 300 million dollar

[01:18:54] payroll currently right now

[01:18:56] they're like they are expect not

[01:18:59] weren't expected to be good this year

[01:19:00] but they are very expensive people pay

[01:19:02] a lot of money to go to those games

[01:19:04] and in the end they play in new

[01:19:06] york city so the expectations are high

[01:19:08] and

[01:19:09] they have gone way below those

[01:19:11] expectations in every facet

[01:19:14] yeah i think this was just a bad

[01:19:17] mistake on

[01:19:18] yeah the mets part just have somebody

[01:19:20] there if you feel confident in him

[01:19:23] speaking to reporters in most

[01:19:24] situations on his own sure

[01:19:25] but this was clearly a very very

[01:19:28] extenuating circumstance where he was

[01:19:29] going to get a ton of questions

[01:19:31] so why not just get it right why not

[01:19:32] make sure there's somebody with them

[01:19:34] make sure every answer is answered

[01:19:38] in the correct way you're right it

[01:19:40] was probably throwing the glove

[01:19:42] that was going to be the last straw

[01:19:43] anyway but again you might as well

[01:19:45] just get the situation right

[01:19:47] and and they didn't and it's and

[01:19:50] it's

[01:19:51] you know i it's not like lopez has

[01:19:54] no blame in this but it could have been

[01:19:57] very very much watered down

[01:20:00] instead they let people run with these

[01:20:03] quotes

[01:20:04] because his words were misconstrued

[01:20:05] when he was trying to say yes i was

[01:20:07] a bad teammate i made the mistake i

[01:20:08] shouldn't have done that

[01:20:09] instead the mets kind of let

[01:20:11] everybody run with him saying

[01:20:12] oh i'm on the worst team in baseball

[01:20:14] when that wasn't what he said

[01:20:18] now the conversations come back

[01:20:20] around it's like well are the mets any

[01:20:21] better now under steve cohen than they

[01:20:23] were under the will pons

[01:20:24] the will pons who are owned the the

[01:20:26] mets before steve cohen bought them

[01:20:29] in 21 and yeah say to say people

[01:20:33] weren't huge fans of the will pons

[01:20:35] but now

[01:20:35] people aren't huge fans of steve

[01:20:37] cohen either because he's he's thrown

[01:20:38] all this money at the team and they

[01:20:40] are

[01:20:40] they seemingly are just as

[01:20:41] dysfunctional i think they are better

[01:20:45] with steve cohen because again

[01:20:46] you give yourself the opportunity to

[01:20:49] spend money

[01:20:50] that is that is something that a lot of

[01:20:52] owners as we know

[01:20:54] do not do so they are they are better

[01:20:57] situated with steve cohen because he's

[01:20:59] not afraid to spend

[01:21:00] but it's not like it's all sunshine

[01:21:02] and roses and queens right now

[01:21:03] either

[01:21:04] so yeah there's a lot to fix the

[01:21:07] good thing is you know

[01:21:07] at least the mets have a lot of

[01:21:09] really rational level-headed fans

[01:21:11] yeah very very very rational level

[01:21:13] headed fans that

[01:21:15] process information very well and

[01:21:17] rational thought out takes it just never

[01:21:20] a good look for a franchise if you're

[01:21:21] dfa-ing someone day of the game

[01:21:24] yeah like doing that never never really

[01:21:26] a good look so not great in new york

[01:21:28] i do actually have one more thing

[01:21:29] that i thought of as we were talking

[01:21:30] about i'm shocked we haven't talked

[01:21:31] about this yet

[01:21:32] i'm just gonna michael will bon do

[01:21:35] you want to address

[01:21:36] what he was talking he was talking

[01:21:37] about so michael will bond was on

[01:21:40] espn this week and essentially

[01:21:43] his complaint was people are stopped

[01:21:46] people like him stop watching

[01:21:48] baseball because people talk about

[01:21:50] exit velocity this is

[01:21:54] this is yet again me once again asking

[01:21:57] espn to do one of two things

[01:21:59] when a baseball topic is brought up

[01:22:02] bring on a crew of people that

[01:22:03] actually know baseball whether it's

[01:22:05] letting jeff pass into a bunch more

[01:22:07] segments than he already is

[01:22:08] or bringing on other people or option

[01:22:10] b stop talking about the sport

[01:22:13] i know people want to see baseball get

[01:22:14] covered better

[01:22:15] and it is getting covered better there

[01:22:17] is more popularity in the last few

[01:22:18] years

[01:22:19] but it's not worth talking about if

[01:22:23] you're going to get it wrong

[01:22:24] again like espn does not like espn

[01:22:26] puts so many bad lights on baseball

[01:22:28] because you let people that are not

[01:22:30] qualified to talk about baseball

[01:22:31] talk about baseball and then they say

[01:22:33] things that are just

[01:22:35] abhorrently dumb so when michael

[01:22:38] will bond talks about the exit

[01:22:39] velocity thing

[01:22:40] when stephen a smith's talking about

[01:22:42] the mike trout stuff and then we've

[01:22:44] got mad dog on there saying

[01:22:45] whatever he's saying it's a terrible

[01:22:48] look again either let

[01:22:49] pass and just do all the segments when

[01:22:51] it's about baseball

[01:22:52] let him educate people or bring on more

[01:22:55] people that are smart and qualified to

[01:22:56] talk baseball

[01:22:57] because i want to see baseball grow

[01:22:58] you want to see baseball grow

[01:23:00] we all want to see it grow and it

[01:23:01] is growing and there's a lot of

[01:23:03] really good people out there that talk

[01:23:04] about it

[01:23:05] but on espn again

[01:23:08] either put the right people in front

[01:23:11] of the camera for it or don't talk

[01:23:12] about it because this whole exit

[01:23:13] velocity thing is

[01:23:14] is so dumb it is so dumb hitting the

[01:23:17] ball hard is the reason i stop

[01:23:19] watching baseball or sorry

[01:23:20] someone telling me that they hit the

[01:23:23] ball hard

[01:23:23] is the reason i stop watching baseball

[01:23:25] like think about that sentence

[01:23:28] it's the stupidest thing ever like i

[01:23:29] also just don't need to ever hear

[01:23:31] stephen a smith talk about baseball

[01:23:33] like ever stick stick to trashing

[01:23:35] the dallas cowboys i actually really

[01:23:37] enjoy that part keep doing that

[01:23:39] i don't need anything else that's fine

[01:23:40] you get paid 10 million dollars a

[01:23:42] year

[01:23:43] talk about the nba me nfl because it's

[01:23:44] clearly all you guys watch

[01:23:46] suggestion if you want good baseball

[01:23:49] programming

[01:23:50] i have two ultimate suggestions one

[01:23:53] well sorry well let's go this in

[01:23:55] order three

[01:23:56] number one turn off espn number two

[01:24:00] listen to this podcast number three

[01:24:02] watch mlb network

[01:24:04] i think that's a good order yeah mlb

[01:24:07] network

[01:24:07] actually puts people on that know

[01:24:08] what they're talking about so

[01:24:10] pretty simple although sometimes mad dog

[01:24:14] is on mlb network

[01:24:15] so yeah he's everywhere

[01:24:18] yeah he's everywhere however i will say

[01:24:21] most people at mlb network really

[01:24:22] really know what they're talking about

[01:24:23] and do a good job

[01:24:24] so yes to tj's point i would agree

[01:24:27] with all that i also mentioned

[01:24:28] goldy's segment on the mariners

[01:24:30] social media accounts earlier this

[01:24:32] week or earlier in the show talking

[01:24:33] about the palanquin thing and

[01:24:34] hitting the ball hard or maybe it was

[01:24:35] rayleigh hitting the ball hard

[01:24:38] and how goldy dove in on how there's

[01:24:40] maybe nothing more important to a hitter

[01:24:41] right now than barreling up the

[01:24:43] baseball and hitting it hard

[01:24:45] i can't help but think that might

[01:24:47] have been a very subtle jab at

[01:24:49] michael will bonn

[01:24:50] i think it was it seemed without

[01:24:53] saying his name that's what it

[01:24:54] seemed like

[01:24:55] unless there was another infamous

[01:24:57] person online who was complaining

[01:24:58] about exit velocity this week

[01:25:00] i know it was almost too specific

[01:25:03] right and like at the end like i

[01:25:05] love the the the detail a creative

[01:25:07] team and goldy did about this where

[01:25:08] he's just there's no other video on

[01:25:09] the camera he's staring straight

[01:25:11] he's staring straight into the camera

[01:25:13] and he says don't let anyone tell you

[01:25:15] that exit velocity does not matter

[01:25:17] because they don't know what they're

[01:25:19] talking about

[01:25:20] there you go those are essentially the

[01:25:22] gist of what he said

[01:25:23] that's why i love it when goldy's on

[01:25:24] the broadcast and somebody's

[01:25:26] throwing just heat or ridiculous

[01:25:28] breaking balls and goldy goes

[01:25:30] just hit it the other way

[01:25:31] and he's very and he's very clear

[01:25:33] square around and bunt

[01:25:35] he's and he's very clearly being

[01:25:36] sarcastic which shout out

[01:25:38] shout out goldy that's why he's one

[01:25:39] of the best in the whole business

[01:25:40] he's not only is he a great

[01:25:41] broadcaster but he's so in tune with

[01:25:44] modern baseball which is what the game

[01:25:45] needs so so shout out

[01:25:48] all right a little bit of a longer

[01:25:50] episode but that's okay

[01:25:52] that just about wraps up this

[01:25:53] edition of the marine layer podcast

[01:25:55] you guys know the drill you want to

[01:25:56] listen to the full-form podcast you

[01:25:58] can do so wherever you get your

[01:25:59] audio pods make sure if you're

[01:26:01] listening you leave this podcast a

[01:26:03] five-star review you download the

[01:26:04] episode it helps us out a bunch

[01:26:06] make sure to like comment subscribe on

[01:26:08] youtube and check us out on social

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[01:26:12] and youtube shorts at marine layer

[01:26:14] pod that's tj i'm lial as always

[01:26:17] we thank you guys for tuning in

[01:26:18] to talk to you soon