Episode 17: Corey Brock (The Athletic) And Previewing The Mariners' Outfield

00:00:00 Speaker 1: Welcome to episode number seventeen of the Marine Layer Podcast with TJ. Matthewson and Lyle Goldstein. On today's pod, we're joined by Corey Brock from The Athletic Corey joins the show to help us preview the Mariners outfield. We spend most of the time with Corey talking about Julio Rodriguez and Tioscar Hernandez, among other assorted items. After Corey, we conclude the outfield preview with a couple guys we haven't talked as much about, Sam Haggerty and Cooper Hummel. Of course, we close out the show with Speak Your Mind. Let's get it rolling, and we welcome you into this episode of the Marine Layer Podcast. On Monday, February twenty seventh. We've had four spring training games, Lyle, already, I'm sick and tired of hearing people bitch about the pitch clock. Already. 00:00:59 Speaker 2: Let me pull out an old Aaron Rodgers quote for everybody that's complaining about this pitch clock R E. L A X. It's gonna be fine, guys, As somebody who watched it for a full season, It's not going to ruin games. It only helps the sport it's doing its job. Let's not overreact. Through three or four games of spring training, please, how. 00:01:27 Speaker 1: Many violations a game did you see on average in the minors. 00:01:31 Speaker 2: It was a couple, but it was never in situations like that Red Sox game from the other day where it was the ninth inning and it decided a contest that never happened the umpires. The umpires will give a little bit of leeway on it sometimes if it's righted zero and the pitchers about to pitch, kind of like the game clock in football, where if it hits zero sometimes you're given a second or two of leeway. The umpires did not let it get to the point where it was affecting games in late and we didn't see much of that. We would see a couple of game in regular situations. 00:02:05 Speaker 1: They're never gonna enforce it stricter than they enforce it right now, that's for absolute certainty. Remember when they they changed the rules for for examining pictures coming off the mound and it was a pat it was it was a legit pack down of a picture while he was coming off the mound. What was the last time you saw a pitcher get like thoroughly examined coming off the mound. That's what I'm saying, right, you can do the same thing with the pitch clock. They obviously have a clock sitting out there that they're staring at, but you know they're not gonna it's not it's not gonna be as strict one. Two. The players are gonna get used to it, and they're gonna get in the box faster. They're gonna realize, oh shit, I got to get in the batter's box more often than not. 00:02:47 Speaker 2: Here's the analogy I always get for it. And funny enough, I was thinking back to when I called into your show down in Corvallis back in May and I talked with Mike and John a little bit about the pitch clock. I told them the example I gave. I'll give this same example here. Basketball didn't always have a shot clock. Could you imagine the sport of basketball without a shot clock today, because it would be miserable. 00:03:10 Speaker 1: I do, yes. Do you know the low Did you know fun fact the state of Oregon still does not have a shot clock for high school basketball? 00:03:19 Speaker 2: No? Oh god, that's got to be brutal. 00:03:21 Speaker 1: It's there are some possessions, you know, Me and you are both broadcasters, right, and the best thing about basketball play by play not my favorite sport to call, but when you're calling basketball, at least you can say, hey, there is a rhythm to this sport. Every thirty seconds, they have to shoot the basketball, and they're gonna go the other direction. You know what they don't do in high school. They don't shoot at every thirty seconds. There are some possessions. They will hold the ball for over a minute. It is brutal. We always say, right, I know we're kind of getting off topic of baseball, but I think this is kind of interesting. Well always say we don't want to be super repetitive and seeing the same words over and over and over again, but low, how many different ways can you describe the ball making its way around the three point arc to the baseline, back around the three point arc? We what's being passed past? Oh no, now they actually throw it inside. Nope, they throw it back out Nope, nope. And it's like, oh, I would say the shot clock's running out, but it's actually not. 00:04:19 Speaker 2: We both always have a lot of tabs pulled up on our computer during broadcasts, at least when there's information out there between live stats, between team rosters, all that stuff. You might have to start pulling up the saurus on your computer during these high school basketball games if you need some more words, because yeah, I don't know how many different ways you can describe that. 00:04:40 Speaker 1: So, in conclusion, high school basketball without a shot clock terrible. Major League baseball with a pitch clock. I like it. Maybe it gets extended a little bit. I wouldn't. I wouldn't care that much if they say, hey, let's make let's make it with nobody on seventeen seconds. How about that seventeen seconds? You give everyone an extra two seconds? That takes out the buffer that right now is the buffer period, right where guys are like almost in the box, but they're not staring at the pitcher and they get whistled called the strike. The pitcher has not started his motion yet exactly, but if he had an extra two seconds, maybe he would start his motion. I think that would fix a lot of problems if they just extended it by two seconds. But again I don't. I don't think fifteen seconds is all that bad. I'm just sit down and watching any and I'm like, that was nice. Is fast? 00:05:33 Speaker 2: The only people it's gonna affect are pitchers like Pedro Biaz who used to take fifty five seconds or whatever it was between pitches. That's the stuff that nobody cares about, even old school baseball fans. Nobody wants to wait a whole minute for another pitch. That's what the pitch clock's doing. And guess what all those seconds added up condenses games for all those people out there. If you're a baseball fan and you have friends or family who say, oh, the sport's boring, it's too long. If this pitchclock is implemented, which it's going to be, nobody can make that argument anymore. It'll be the same length of time as a basketball game. The pitchclock is only going to do good things. So again, let's relax, let's pump the brakes, give it some time. I promise people are going to get used to it. 00:06:16 Speaker 1: Have you enjoyed the tweet that was tweeted out today? I forget which game it was. Someone through an inning today. I believe it was faster than pedro Bias did through. He threw it essentially through an inning. In between pitches from Pedro Bias in Game one of the twenty sixteen NLCS when he's facing David Ross. I think he took a minute in forty one seconds between pitches. Did Pedro bias and someone today through an inning faster than that? 00:06:46 Speaker 2: That's amazing. I did not see this. That's great. Yeah, spring training or we're seeing it get tested out for the first time at the big league level. I promise people. Pitchclock good thing. That's my conclusion. 00:07:00 Speaker 1: Thing I saw regarding the pitchclock. People were like, Oh, they're gonna shut off beer sales early. It's okay. Like teams are gonna be like, oh, we can't sell beer. We can't sell beer for three hours. We're gonna have to cut off beer sales after an hour and forty five minutes. Oh no. 00:07:17 Speaker 2: Also, just get there early, buy it before the game. 00:07:23 Speaker 1: That's what I'm saying. Double fist, Yeah, double fisting would work. That would be regardless. A couple of spring training storylines we can touch on low before we get to our interview with Corey Brock Again. We're recording this here on Monday to be released on Wednesday. Four games have already happened, six will have happened by the time this episode is published. When we did the interview with Corey Brock. They had yet to play a game, so we couldn't really talk about any games storylines with him. But a couple of things really just off the top low Chris Flexen today looked good. Jared Kellinnick yesterday with two home runs to send you over the moon. We had a good relief out from pre Lander Barroa. He looked really good on the mound in his two innings of relief. You know, walked, Won Soto, gave up a hit to Manny, but had three strikeouts and two innings. Can't no more than that? Do you strike out more than that? 00:08:12 Speaker 2: Three? Yeah? 00:08:13 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah. 00:08:14 Speaker 2: He struck out the side in that first inning and he got Xander Bogarts. 00:08:19 Speaker 1: He made Sander Bogarts look stupid. 00:08:22 Speaker 2: He did that. Stuff is real. 00:08:26 Speaker 1: Other Mariners pitchers being brought along pretty slowly. George Kirby and Logan Gilbert are going to pitch at the end of this week. I believe Gilbert is gonna pitch on Friday. Kirby's gonna start on Saturday. Luis Castillo again for hear us here recording on a Monday. We'll pitch tomorrow. So if you're listening to this on Wednesday, when this comes out with Joe, assume you are he would have pitched yesterday. When he comes out, I'm excited to see what it looked like. We will not have any hot takes on Luis Castillo's first start of the spring with US recording before he gets on the bump. Just a couple and cal Raley's supposed to make his debut tomorrow, so let me know if I missed anything there. But I think that's the early thing of what we're what we're looking at here in spring. 00:09:06 Speaker 2: Just same thing with cal Rally at press time for us being a Monday, cal Raley's going to catch on Tuesday, his first action of the spring, but by the time this podcasts out, he should have already caught. 00:09:18 Speaker 1: Did see a video of him today? Hit a homer on one knee. That's looking good. 00:09:25 Speaker 2: Does that remind you of anything a certain other baseball He nearly dug out of the dirt for a home run. 00:09:31 Speaker 1: Yeah, pretty memorable one, I would say. I would agree that was pretty good. 00:09:37 Speaker 2: I just got to say cal Nick look great on Sunday with those two homers. His babbitt right now is batting average on balls and play is zero, meaning he's getting pretty unlucky even with the two homers. I mean, he scorched the ball Friday that got caught, he scorched the ball on Sunday after the two homers that got caught, and he scorched the ball Monday that was fielded on the dirt. So I mean he's hitting the ball hard again. We're not overreact or anything yet, but I think for what he's done through three games of action, it's what the Mariners would want to see so far. 00:10:08 Speaker 1: Instead of giving you shit about keeping track of spring training, babbit, I'm gonna instead take the more mature approach of this and say, I've been very pleased with what I've seen from Jared, and I've heard some quotes come out. Was listening to some Seattle Sports seven to ten content earlier today where they were able to talk to Jared and really get a feel for what he is after the plate and chin and dred, you know, all the beat writers and stuff. They get to talk to Jared after the game, and a lot of it for Jared now is just winning every pitch, which is important. It sounds cliche, but another way I thought about it, which Mike Salk on his show brought up earlier today here on Monday, how the pitch clock can help Jared. So Jared's we talk about it's always in his head. That's what it seems like. For the reason he has not succeeded at the big league level has been what's in his head. Well, the fact that he has to get in the box every what it's seven seconds, right, he has to get in the box, look at the pitcher every seventh no eight seconds, sorry, every eight seconds he steps out, recollects, get to get back in the box. He doesn't have time to think about what just happened. And small sample size, you know, could help, could help him out there. 00:11:16 Speaker 2: You know what a great man once said, first rule of baseball. Don't think it'll only hurt the ball club. If you know bul Durham, you'll know the reference. But that is a good point and I didn't thought about that much. So hat tip to Salt because yeah, I mean, maybe the idea of the pitch clock can help Jared just get in a rhythm, which would be great. Also mechanically he does look more sound which is great too. 00:11:41 Speaker 1: He does again, we talked about all his swing and we need a larger sample size to actually make conclusions. We do. It's it is. It is impossible to make judgments on Jared Kellenick's game for three spray three exhibition games, however, is it? At bats through three games have looked good. His mechanics, as you said, have looked good. There Joe Doyle clipped the at bat he had today where he hit a screamer to a second on one hop and got out. I mean he spat on a couple of change ups down it just he might have swung at over the last couple of years. He sat off a pitch up near his chin, which he also would have swung at it, and actually it wasn't quite chin was a little bit lower but above the strike zone. Didn't swing at that, made contact with the pitches in the strike zone and with two strikes in an absolute rocket to second base, got out. But he did hit the ball extremely hard. Can't ask for anything more than that. 00:12:32 Speaker 2: No, again, through three or four games, it's everything you could ask for. So we'll see how Kalnick progresses the rest of the spring. I guess if there's one other storyline we want to touch on. As Evan White hit his first homer today today, being Monday. So again another guy that has a long way to go in terms of his offensive development, but can't complain about it. It's a positive sign you can't. 00:12:54 Speaker 1: I'm curious to see how Evan White, the accumulation of m Whites at Evan Whites at bats are He's gonna get a lot of playing time when the guys go off to when they go off to play in the WBC, We're gonna see a lot more of him than I want to see, you know, like like Jared Good at bats and a for Evan last time we saw him in the big leagues, he's striking out forty percent of the time, not chasing pitches and crushing pitches and the strike zone. 00:13:17 Speaker 3: He did. 00:13:17 Speaker 1: The pitch he did get to hit today was a cookie middle middle and he hit an absolute missile. That was nice to see for Evan. He is gonna find his at bats this spring. That's that's not a mystery. He's he's gonna hit quite a bit this spring. I'm excited to see that, and we will. We'll see it as it goes along. So we're previewing outfielders today, Lyle. We did a good chunk of it with Corey Brock, who is an excellent interview touched on a whole number of things. Spent more time talking about the town of Corvallis than I thought we would, but we did end up talking a little bit of Corvallis. That's where I met Corey for the first time at a Beaver baseball game last spring. S able to reconnect on that. But we also spend a good chunk of time talking about Julio Rodriguez and Taoscar Hernandez as part of our outfield preview. Coreed also wrote in a bit of a feature piece on Julio, one of his first pieces of the spring that he put out earlier last week, and we talked with him about that in the interview, amongst other things. After that, of course, we're going to talk about Sam Haggerty and Cooper Hummel. Now you're probably wondering where is Jared. Well, we just talked about Jared. Get over it. But no, we've actually talked a lot about Jared. I don't think most of what we have to say about Jared and aj Pollock, the leftfield platoon has already been set for how it is in spring training, pre spring training, of what our expectations are has already been said. So if you want to hear about Jared and Aj Pollack. If you want to hear, let's start with Jared. For Jared, you can go listen to episodes number nine and twelve. If you want to hear more in depth stuff on Jared Kelnick and for AJ Pollock, episodes number seven and episodes ten. So you do that and then you come back and listen to this episode and you get your full outfield preview. Let's not waste any more time. Let's get to our interview with Corey Brock. We welcome Corey Brock onto the Marine Layer Podcast. Corey is a staff writer with the Athletic. This will now be his sixth season since he's joined the Athletic and returned home to the Pacific Northwest to cover the Mariners. We really appreciate Corey joining the Marine Layer Podcast today. Corey, thanks so much for coming on. 00:15:30 Speaker 3: TJ Lyle, thanks for having me. I really appreciate it. 00:15:34 Speaker 1: So I was thinking, Corey, as we're about to have you on today. The first time I met you was at Oregon State's Goths Stadium about nine months ago. Now it was it was I think a Sunday. It was warm, it was sunny. You were there to write a story on Mitch Canam, you know it was. It was peaks. It was peak spring and the weather was great. And I look outside today here in Corvallis, it is snowing. The home opener for Oregon State is tomorrow's record here on Thursday the twenty third, And I thought it was funny because we literally now have come full circle in that in that retrospect. 00:16:07 Speaker 3: I hope you have a heavier coat this time, TJ. 00:16:11 Speaker 1: I don't think I'll be at the game's world. So you mentioned to me yet that I know you saw this too. They had to move up the start time tomorrow because apparently they cannot play it when it's like twenty degrees out the low. Tomorrow's like nineteen degrees, and so they wanted to avoid that. It is it is interesting how that works. And we also saw that you you went to Leo's Island barbecue the other day, so we asked Ryan Divish, who we had on last week, about Leo's Island. He said it was good, and I was curious, but we didn't get like a full breakdown of how Leo how good Leo's Island is like item for. 00:16:45 Speaker 3: Around It's it's so it's Hawaiian food and it's really good. And I don't know about you guys, but it's like it's in the Pacific Northwest and maybe I'm just not looking in the right spots, but it's hard to find like good Hawaiian food. But these guys, these guys do an amazing job. Ryan and I have probably each been there three times. I think we've gone with each other every time, and we took this padres. I'm sorry Mariner's prospect with us who he's a big Leos fan. His name's Kid Marlowe. He's an outfielder in Big League camped and so we've been talking about it for a while. So the three of us went and pretty much once you eat it, like let's just say that, like you probably need to line up a nap or nothing else productive the rest of the day, which is never a problem for us. But uh, yeah, it's usually our last stop on the way back to the hotel or Ryan's staying in a condo, I guess. But yeah, it's a lot of fun. You know, everybody's got their spots to go to and that's certainly our number one spot in Peoria. 00:17:51 Speaker 1: We were curious, did you run into Did you run into Cad Marlow by chance? But it sounded like you guys invited him specifically. 00:17:59 Speaker 3: Yeah, because we've been talking about this for over a year, because I got the not kid last spring and he just mentioned I don't know how he got on the subject, because he was living close to Leo's, which is only a five minute drive from the ballpark, and he goes, yeah, I go there three four times a week, which I thought was really aggressive. But you know, these minor league guys don't make a whole lot of money, so Leo's is good bang for the buck, and so it was fun to finally sit down together and enjoy a meal. 00:18:33 Speaker 2: Well, that's really interesting. Again. I was in TJ's boat where I thought, oh, maybe you guys just ran into each other. But the fact he planned it, I think that's pretty cool. 00:18:42 Speaker 3: Yeah, and he's a really nice guy. And I don't know, he's like twenty five. Just you know, he was in double A. Actually he's put together two very good. If you look at his Baseball Reference page, he's knocked in over one hundred runs in each of the last two seasons. Now, he's a little old in terms of being a prospect. You know, I guess he's probably three years older than Julio Rodriguez at this point. But he's got a decent chance to make the big leagues this year, and just a really smart and polite guy. You know the answers yes, sir, which makes me feel even older than I am. But yeah, we had a good time and had some laughs. So it was fun. 00:19:22 Speaker 1: Corey, you right for the Athletic. Would it not be a story the Athletic would do? Is like a lunch at Leo's Island Barbecue with Kate Marlow. 00:19:30 Speaker 3: Dude, I've thought of that. In fact, maybe I should have should have written it up. I was thinking of you know, they got a new second basement from the Brewers this year, Colton Wong, who's from Hawaii. So I thought about inviting Colton to Leo's. But I don't know, Like I'm a little fearful that he might not like it might not quite be up to his standards. But I'm keeping that one in the back pocket. Let's just put it that. 00:19:56 Speaker 2: Way, Okay, So you and Ryan Davis go out to lunch at Leo's Island. You were mentioning to us before we got on here. I thought it'd be a cool story for you to share while we're on the air. You and Ryan Divish actually go a long way back. You might actually have some responsibility in him getting into sports reporting. 00:20:15 Speaker 3: Yeah, and I feel a little bad about that, but he well, he mostly seems to enjoy it. He I used to work at the News Tribune and Tacoma years ago, and Ryan was he was an intern there and he kind of got assigned to me and we'd go out to Cheniy Stadium and cover the Tacoma Rainiers. And you know, he got up to Seattle a few times to do some you know, help out with Mariners stuff. So yeah, I guess I'm partly responsible for getting him into journalism. And as the story I was telling you is, I met up with his parents last summer. They were vacationing down here during spring training to get away from the Montana winter, and I went up and I told his dad. I was like, I'm mister Divish, I'm I have to apologize for I feel partly responsible for getting Ryan into journalism. Ryan as a teaching degree, but maybe he shared with you that he soon discovered he doesn't like kids, so that didn't work out. But so I don't know. I felt a little bad, but his dad just kind of gave me a smirk, so I maybe he's okay with it. 00:21:22 Speaker 2: Well, I think it's worked out pretty well for both Ryan and yourself. Where now you sit at the Athletic, You've been there for a while now. The Athletic is such a big publication these days. I mean, what drew you there? When you first got there? 00:21:36 Speaker 3: Well, you know, I joined in. I guess probably February of Oh no, no, I guess it was probably closer to right around the start of March in twenty eighteen, and they were at a point where they were still relatively new. But I've known a lot of writers that had gone over there in their vision that they sort of had really lined up with what I've always wanted do. I like storytelling. I like writing feature stories. For me, that's the most interesting aspect of the job, and that's where my job probably well it doesn't probably, but that's where my job differs from from Ryan's or from MLB dot com or some other outlets that you know, I don't I don't cover the sport transactionally, like you know what I mean, Like if someone someone hurts their leg, you know, if it if it, if it's a big enough story, I'll write it. But I'm trying to take a take a step back and take a little bit wider view, not just of the team, but the organization. I just I don't consider myself the beat writer for the Mariners major League team. I consider myself the beat writer for the entire organization. And when you do that, it opens up a lot of a lot more potential stories. Really, and I've met a lot of great people. I've really enjoyed this chapter in journalism. I mean, like I said, I started out in newspapers. I worked at MLB dot com for over ten years, covered the marrin six and then nine years covering the Padres in San Diego. And that was a fun chapter. But yeah, I'm really enjoying this ride. And you know, we were purchased by the New York Times probably about a oh, probably about a year ago, I guess it's been right after and then they bought Wurdle, So I don't know what's a better investment for them at this point, but but we uh, it's been a lot of fun. It's been a lot of fun, and honestly, guys like it. If this doesn't work, I don't know if anything will. You know what I mean? This is like feels like the be all end all job for me. I just get kind of free reign to write stories that I want to write. 00:23:42 Speaker 1: And that's how Corey and I met initially. As I led off this podcast with it, you mentioned beat writer for the organization, and you're there to cover and talk to a former member of the organization, Mitch Cannam, who's in Double A in twenty nineteen with a lot of this current Mariners staff, and it's a look at a Pacific Northwest baseball but be a guy who's gone on to be really successful that was a part of the Mariners organization and is now out and doing bigger and better things. 00:24:11 Speaker 3: That was an easy story for me, guys, I mean, honestly, I got to know Mitch well, actually, Mitch was drafted by the Padres when I was covering the organization. I didn't get to know him then, obviously, but I wanted to. I made a trip, well, actually I made two trips to Arkansas in twenty nineteen. They had a really stacked team there, and so I spent some time with Mitch in his office, and you know, I didn't have any idea this the Oregon State gig was in play, and I don't honestly, I don't even know how much it was when I was visiting there. I think this all kind of happened pretty quickly, but obviously had a good relationship with him and understanding his background growing up in the Seattle area being a Mariners fan, and then you know, getting a chance to go home again home being corvalis you know where he yard on those Beaver teams that I think he played on two national champion teams if I'm correct, and then coming back for his dream job. And I just thought it was a cool story. So again, like this is something you know, no one asked me to do this. I just like, I think this is gonna be a really good story, and I was really proud of the way it turned out. It got some good response and it drove a lot of subscriptions and page views, and which you know, ultimately, you know, we all sort of have metrics we look out to gauge our work, quantitative and qualitative, but it it was a fun story, and it gave me an excuse to go to Corvallis and pick up some Block fifteen beer and you know, spend a little time, go to a game. Yeah that game, that game at TJ I think that was against University of Washington and it was a nice day. Yeah, and really nice day that day, and the Beams won. And again I just I really like I really like the campus down there. I have nine year old twin boys, and if one of them's uh, his name is Bennett, so you know, he's a big fan of Benny the Beaver, and I took him to uh, I took him to the Boise State football game in the fall and we we of course, we had to find Benny, so we chased him around and got photos with him and just had a great time. So uh yeah, yeah, I have a soft spot in my heart for Corballis and for Oregon State. Yeah. 00:26:27 Speaker 1: I'm sitting up there in the second row of the press box and I'm wondering, Hey, who's that guy in for it? I've never seen I've not I had not, I hadn't seen your face face quite as often, Corey, and you I think you were sitting down you were looking at the field. I'm like, well, I usually know everyone who shows up here. I have no idea who this is. In my peak, I see the athletic OHT importance, and I think I think it worked out pretty well because full circle moment. Now we're now we're here talking about the Mariners. 00:26:54 Speaker 3: Yeah, and I'm glad you uh, I'm glad you introduced yourself that day, TJ. So that was uh, yeah, that was a that was cool. I just found myself kind of listening to Mike Parker down there, you know, in that booth you could hear, you know, when someone sneezes or drops their keys on the floor, and so I'm a big fan of his, and so that was kind of fun to listen to him call the game. 00:27:16 Speaker 1: We could transition onto the Mariners now, yeah, it's it's a nice Yeah, we are gonna talk Mariners. Yes, yes, yes, yeah, always good to hear about some things in Corlis. But however, this is a this is a Mariners podcast. So speaking of feature writing, Corey wasn't like a full fleshed out feature because I don't know how many more words we can use to describe this one player. But you did a really nice piece on Julio earlier this week of what his expectations are for this season, and I guess I kind of want to like start like on a broad out view. I just don't know how we can place expectations on him for this season because the ceiling, I think you would agree, is just it's so high for him, isn't it. 00:28:00 Speaker 3: Yeah, And I think the Mariners, you know, have stopped a long time ago trying to kind of put limits on him. You know, I've known Gulio. I first met him when he was eighteen years old at the complex there in Arizona in the fall, and I think he had just maybe played his first season in the Dominican Summer League. But you know, he kind of self taught himself English, and I remember we had an interview and he insisted on doing it in English, and then afterwards, like he raced down the hallway to call his parents to tell him that he didn an interview in English. He was so proud of himself, And I was just kind of smitten with the guy as an eighteen year old. Just the way he carried himself is charisma. Just how he seems so genuine and his love for Baseball's love for everything just seemed to ooze from him. And I don't think a whole lot of that has necessarily changed. His world has changed quite a bit. He is a very wealthy and will be a very wealthy man moving forward. I mean, there was that home run derby, the Rookie of the Year. The sky is kind of the limit. 00:29:09 Speaker 1: You've seen him now in Major League Spring training last year and this year. Can you put into perspective how different it is for him for what he's dealing with media wise, expectations wise, fan response wise, for just the span of three hundred and sixty five days. 00:29:25 Speaker 3: I mean, there's just no sneaking up on people anymore. And like I mentioned, you know, we you know, people that follow the team and follow the organization have known about this guy for a little while. But I think last year was the year he really introduced himself to the world, so to speak. You know, he played in the Olympics, he had what the he hit eighty one home runs in the All Star Home Run Derby and he didn't even win that, which is kind of goofy. But and then the Rookie of the Year stuff, big contract, and so yeah, a lot of eyes on him, a lot of eyes. I hear a lot of Julio. Julio, we us my autograph, you know, will you give me an autograph at camp? And but he seems to be handling himself really well. I mean he's still got the big smile, he's happy. Yeah, he's just cut a little differently, you know, That's kind of the best way I could put it. And I think we kind of all kind of wondered, like how he was going to handle all this success. And obviously he's got a team working behind the scenes in his agency and some marketing stuff and all that. But you know, maybe the polls on his time are much greater than they were before, and I understand that people want to talk to him, But deep down, I think he's still just you know, like I still think of eighteen year old Julio just smiling and happy, and I still see that side. So that's really nice. 00:30:50 Speaker 2: What made him so easy to embrace by his teammates, I mean, it's easy to see why fans could embrace him, it's easy to see why just people across baseball could embrace them. But sometimes when you see young players with as much confidence and as much swag as he has. Sometimes it might rub some veteran players the wrong way, but that didn't really happen with Julio. Why do you feel like that is? 00:31:11 Speaker 3: Yeah, well, two things. I think. You know, he never gave them a reason to hold any animosity. He was a team first guy and by and large very selfless, and the way he carried himself and the way he rooted for his teammates, and then he was really good, So you know, I think that was a big part of it. But the other thing that I think is pretty important, and this kind of goes to what made fans really love him was and I get back to it again. I know it kind of sounds a cliche, but you know, this kid is happy all the time. He's smiling, and it seems very genuine. He just really seems to be enjoying himself, and I think that's sort of infectious. I think it maybe rubs off on some people. It's a hard game. It's a hum humbling game. It's a long season. The way he got five six months the season you got thirty or six weeks of spring training. It's it's a lot. It takes a toll on guys. But I think fans just fell in love with him, and not just in Seattle now, but I think he is you know, he's gonna be one of those spaces of baseball moving forward. 00:32:19 Speaker 1: To the Mariner's point and the play on the field. Now, what do they actually want him to get better at this year? 00:32:26 Speaker 3: I think, you know, I think it for young players, and I don't know if this is a specific conversation they've had, but you know it's you know, he bats lead off, so it's you know, strike zone awareness, seeing pitches, not expanding the strike zone. I thought he did a pretty good job of that as a rookie. I think with some of the new rules, you'll see him maybe run a little more. I mean, this guy could be a forty to forty guy potentially. I think thirty thirty is definitely within reach. So you know, there are things to sharpen up. And he's not a finished product by any means, especially at age twenty two, so he's got some room to grow in this game, which I think is actually really exciting because again, we just don't know how good this guy can be. 00:33:12 Speaker 1: My question to that, though, is I'm curious that the Mariners really want Julio sliding headfirst into second base fifty five sixty times a season. We saw the effect that had on him early in the second half of the year, after the All Star break, he slides into the base against the Rangers, bangs up his wrist, goes and hits the home run derby and swings in all three rounds and kind of it doesn't really help the health of his wrist. I'm just curious if that's you know, are they going to be like, hey, we would love for you to steal if you slide feet first only or something like that. 00:33:43 Speaker 3: Yeah, that would seem to be the smarter way to go. You know, he ran a lot in the first half last year because I think a lot of pitchers really didn't think he was that fast. I mean, if you look at him physically, it doesn't look like a guy that you know is a plus runner, but he was. He didn't run a lot in the second half, and I think that was because team's kind of caught on to him, and you know, I think maybe thinking about potential injuries and all that. So, you know, I don't know, that's a good question. I'm curious how much he's gonna run. But I just think now there's some baked in things with the rule changes that could potentially make it easier for guys like Julio to steal bases. So we'll sort of see where that goes. But it bears watching. But yeah, it's fun. It's funny time you could talk about a five tool player. 00:34:34 Speaker 2: I was hoping to do a little bit of a fun exercise with you, Corey. And this is a total hypothetical course because the Mariners will almost definitely never consider this, but it's something TJ and I have talked about just as kind of a fun discussion. Point is if you were to put on your GM hat and take all the contracts into account in baseball, so contracts play a factor into this. Is there a single player you would trade Julio Rodriguez for right now? 00:35:01 Speaker 3: Oh? Just a straight up one for one right? 00:35:06 Speaker 2: Yeah? 00:35:10 Speaker 3: I don't think so. I don't think so, because again there's so many factors. But like he's twenty two and like the enormity of what his game could become. I just I don't think you could do that. I don't think I don't think you could trade him or you should or would ever want to. Where did you guys fall. 00:35:34 Speaker 1: With that, so I don't think so. 00:35:37 Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean I think where we had another friend, it was about halfway through the season. I think TJ and I were already on the side of no between his age, between his upside, between all the other contracts in baseball, there's nobody i'd trade him for. I think we had one other friend that said maybe I'd trade him for one Soto and that's it, And then once the season ended, he said, yeah, forget it. There's nobody. 00:36:02 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, there's a couple guys that are certainly pretty intriguing. But when you could just you know, when you consider what this guy could be, and you know, I don't think he's you know, based on that contract, I don't think he's ever going to play for another team now, you know, we don't know that, you know. I hope I'm still alive at the end of his deal. Hopefully we all are. But yeah, I think he could be a Mariner for life and that they got very creative to work that deal out, and I'm glad they did. I think it's a huge boost for the organization. 00:36:37 Speaker 2: It is pretty crazy to think about where we could all be when that contract ends. If it actually goes seventeen years. Just to think, man, am I going to be into my early forties by then? Like, I can't even picture what my life will look like by that time. 00:36:50 Speaker 3: Lyle, I don't want to hear about you being in your forties. Okay, I am. I'm going to be I'm going to be fifty four in April, and I have nine year old boys, so I'm gonna be working till I'm one hundred and eighteen. So maybe I'll maybe I will be around for the end of that deal. Maybe maybe Julio would give us a little couch change for college. 00:37:09 Speaker 1: At that point, you would you would have just, I mean what, you would have just celebrated your seventieth So maybe you can. You'll watch his retirement ceremony. I don't know from like Greece. 00:37:21 Speaker 3: Oh that's a good thought. I was. I was gonna cut you off there, TJ if you're gonna make some age jokes. But no, I think I could envision. Yeah. Maybe maybe maybe I'll stay stateside. Maybe maybe down here in Arizona. Maybe just play some golf. Oh, drink Margarita's all day. 00:37:40 Speaker 1: That's actually wasn't sound like about auction? 00:37:42 Speaker 3: Yeah, so yeah, I'm talking to you guys, that's what I should be doing. 00:37:51 Speaker 1: Well, we've talked quite a bit about Julio now, and but there's another member of this Mariners outfield that we want to get to you with you a new addition for this year. It's Taoscar Hernandez, a guy who's really been embraced something with the outfield edition. Last year, Jesse Winker was almost the complete opposite of how that ended up. But it seems like for Taoscar entering this Mariner's clubhouse, he'll go and play for the Dominican Republic with Julio in a few weeks. It seems like that's the opposite. And I think I don't know if the Mariners did extra background research to make sure this would check out, but it seems like this situation might work out a little bit better. 00:38:31 Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, you know, no one saw the Winker sort of thing going the direction it did. I mean, his track record was pretty good, but I think Taoscar's track record is even better. This guy has big time power that will play in any ballpark, even t Mobile Park, which you know it was by and larger Pitchers ballpark. But I think he's gonna be I think he's going to be really good. I don't know if they they've had talks about extending him or not, but I think he is gonna be a nice thumper in the middle of that order and probably will allow other guys to hit in spots where there may be conducive to having more success. So I thought that was a great pickup. I didn't think the price was terribly steep. I think they had some depth in the bullpen and Eric Swanson had a very good year last year and I'm sure he'll do fine in Toronto. And the young kid Adam Maco is a prospect. But you know, you've got a chance to win now, your competitive window is open. And you know, really the perfect example of that is that Luis Castillo deal. They gave up a lot, a lot to get that guy. But you know, here, as we sit here now in February, no one's bemoaning that deal, you know what I mean. Like this guy, This guy was a rock star, and I don't think he gets as do enough. I think he's as close to a number one. Well, he's certainly in terms of what the Mariners have, he is, and I don't think there's that many. There's not thirty number ones in baseball, right, but he is. He is very good. And then they sign him and do a five year extension for one hundred and eight million. So anyway, you give up these prospects and you know, if if your return allows you to be better today, I think you got to You got to really consider it. And that's why they built you know, part of the reason you build this farm system up the way they did is to augment the big league roster, which they've done with George Kirby, Logan Gilbert cal Rawley. And it's also could be used to move to get win now players. And so Taoscar Hernandez is at Luis Castillo is that. 00:40:35 Speaker 2: I'll get back to ta Oscar in just a second, But you bringing up Castillo. I just wanted to get this off because to your point, a lot of people were upset, A lot of fans, I should say, were upset about the price it took to acquire Castillo last July. I mean, could you imagine if the Mariners had lost out on him and then they'd had to settle for Frankie Montas, who's now going to miss most of this season. I mean that trade was worth every penny they paid. 00:40:58 Speaker 3: Yeah, and you know, honestly, they make that trade knowing, you know, having a good idea what they're getting, even though they will tell you that Luis Castillo is even better than you know what the version they got to him. Those eleven starts in the regular season, then those two starts in the postseason, especially that one in Toronto fabulous. I mean yeah, you know, at the time, you know it hurts. It hurts an organization to trade away players they've drafted, developed, brought along and you know, at some point envision as part of their future. But you got to make those tough calls sometimes, and the Reds probably just kept asking for guys, and the marriage kept throwing guys in there, and you know, we'll see what those guys become. That's an unknown. What's not an unknown is that Luis Castillo can shove, and he is. He is really good. It's going to be fun to see what he does now in thirty two starts for the team for the team instead of just the eleven he made last year. 00:42:01 Speaker 2: I can't wait to see it. I really can't, because he was so fun throughout the entire second half last year in the postseason two. But getting back to ta Oscar Hernandez, Now, where do you expect his production to place in this Mariner's lineup? I mean, you assume Julio is going to be the best bat. What where would the Mariners be satisfied with his production? If he's top three in the lineup in terms of production, top five, where do you see that landing that satisfies the Mariners? 00:42:29 Speaker 3: Yeah, I think this is a guy that's probably gonna, you know, depending on matchups, because they will move some things around. You know, you'll probably hit third or fourth in the lineup. You know, this is a guy who, you know it could maybe hit two seventy thirty five home runs and knock in a lot of runs, especially if guys like Colton Wong and Ty France and of course Julio were on base when he gets up there. So I think there's a potential for him to knock in a lot of runs with this team. So, and he's a proven run producer, you know. And so I don't get the sense that any stage or any moments too big for him, because I think he's sort of gone through a lot of that in Toronto you know, I made the joke a couple of times. I think I even wrote it that. You know, the version the Mariners hope to get a Taoscar Hernandez is the guy they saw in that game too, where he hit two home runs. I mean, that's what this guy could do. He's got tremendous power, and I think he's a good clubhouse guy, and I think a lot of guys really embrace the opportunity to come to a team that, like I said, it has their competitive window open. They're coming off two ninety win seasons. You know, baseball's on the rise in Seattle again, and it's a lot of fun. 00:43:43 Speaker 1: Do you so we know? Let me restart my question. We know that the d H spot's going to be a rotation of players. Do we think Taoscar there? Do you think Taoskar is going to be the number one guy in that spot. They'll try and keep him off his feet so that bat can stay in the lineup as much as possible. 00:44:00 Speaker 3: Yeah, I think he will get some turns there. I don't think he's a bad defender necessarily. I think he could hold his own right field place pretty true. In that ballpark, center field's obviously very big, but I have a feeling Julio can handle like three hundred yards of space out there to his left and right and cover for those guys if need be. But yeah, I could see that, I think, and I think the way they're handling that, you know, unless you had like a Nelson Cruz in his prime and you know you slot those five hundred at bats in that spot, this is the best way to do it, because you know, I think toward the end of last year, a lot of guys were worn down. Ty Frantz has worn down, he was hurt, JP Crawford got tired. I think guys were on fumes at the end of the season. So if you can get a guy off his feet once a week, maybe even a little more and just rolling through that DH spot still keep his bat in the lineup, I think that's really the way to go. And I think I think we'll probably see more teams doing. 00:44:56 Speaker 2: That last thing on taoscar Her Andez here to kind of wrap this up, I mean, obviously it was a trade that's expected to really impact this lineup, and you look at the rest of the Al West that has so many tough lefties in this division, between Franber Valdez, Martin Perez, a couple others. Not only is ta Oscar a great offensive producer, you look at what he's done against left handed pitching the last three years. It's off the charts. I mean, you're talking about a guy that has the second highest ops in baseball against lefties in that time, only behind Paul Goldschman, who won the MVP. So you're the Mariners, you have to hope that he can help against some of those lefties at the very least. 00:45:34 Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's one of the things they wanted. They wanted to find a right handed outfield or a right handed thumper to kind of, you know, better neutralize some of those lefties they'll be seeing. And that's why in left field with Jared Kilnick, you'll see Aj Pollock get a lot of that bats against left handers and he has a good track record there. So you know, this Mariner lineup, it might not be no two lineups look the same at any point this year because they have some pieces that they could move in and out. And I think they're really cognizant about keeping guys fresh for those games that September because you know, the last two Septembers. Those games have meant everything, and there's no reason to think that won't be the case again. 00:46:19 Speaker 1: Got In halson Tascar. 00:46:20 Speaker 2: Law, I think that about wraps it up. I mean, I'm just excited to watch him play. I know he's only under contract for one year, but to have a lineup with him, with Julia, with ty Franz cal Raley Suarez, I mean, those are five real run producers, and it's probably more than the Mariners have had in a long time. So it's pretty exciting. 00:46:38 Speaker 3: Yeah, and you know they're pitching, you know, really kept them afloat. You know, even when they were struggling last year, the pitching was still pretty good. Struggling offensively, I should say, but the pitching has been so good. But then, you know, offensively, I think they were shut out like twelve times last year. You know, yes, a lot of those happened during that stretch where they weren't very good in April and May. But you know, even then, I kind of looked at the roster and I'm like, it wasn't because of one or two things. It was really like, well, this is their team. They're just not performing right now. Maybe it'll turn around and lo and behold, it did and you know, like for a lot of reasons. You know, some guys got hot offensively. Ty Frantz was good in the first half, bringing George Kirby up man he's the real deal, So a lot of things went right. They had that fourteen game winning streak that really got him moving in the second half. So yeah, it's gonna be fun to see how this all shakes out. I mean, there's no guarantees in baseball. There's no guarantee they'll be blessed with the kind of good health they had last year. I mean, that's just that's such an outlier of a season to go through and not have any of your starting pitchers get dinged up or have to go on the injured list. It's just remarkable and it's entirely not sustainable. So maybe it is, I don't know, you know, we'll see. But they have a lot of depth, and I like their roster. I thought maybe coming out of the off season maybe they're one bat shy, but you know, whatever, this is what it is for whatever reason. But I think this is a better team that they ended the season then they ended the season with. 00:48:21 Speaker 1: It'll be exciting now. Judging that now we are recording on Thursday, I believe Corey right, games start tomorrow, this will be out. There will be I think four games played already by the time this drops, so we won't have any analysis on that here. But games start tomorrow. It will be really exciting. I think that wraps up this interview for now. Corey. We really appreciate you coming on. You can find Corey's work on the Athletic under the Mariners tab. You can also find Corey on Twitter at Corey Brock MLB for more Leo's Island Barbecue and hanging out with Divish and Kate Marlin. 00:48:58 Speaker 3: That's all. I'm here for. Maybe some baseball on the side, but I'm just here for the Hawaiian food. 00:49:04 Speaker 1: It's a it's a good choice. Oh. Speaking of Hawaiian food, before we get off here, Corey, yeah, local boys here in Corvallis. You've been right Hawaiian. No, Oh, you need to go Hawaiian, great Hawaiian food. You need to try it. 00:49:18 Speaker 3: Okay, got and another reason yet to come back to Corvallis. 00:49:24 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, you do. It's it it's it is like it is in a in a very crummy buildings. You know the food's good. 00:49:30 Speaker 3: Well, absolutely, it's like it's like out here in Arizona. Like man, you want to get some authentic uh tacos and things like that, you just look for the rundown kind of building and sure enough, it's amazing, right. 00:49:44 Speaker 1: It is amazing. It's right there on Monroe. It's it's hard to miss. It's right next to right next to campus. Throw it into your phone. It's a it's a it's a camp. Miss place. 00:49:52 Speaker 3: I'm gonna write that down because I have a bad memory. So next place, next time I'm in town, I'm going there. 00:50:00 Speaker 1: That works. Thank you, Corey. We really appreciate you coming on. 00:50:04 Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you. 00:50:07 Speaker 1: That was a great interview with Corey Brock to begin our outfield preview again, good stuff there from Julio Rodriguez about Julio Rodriguez and Tioscar Hernandez and if you want to hear stuff about the other outfielders for the Mariners that we will not be talking about here in this segment currently, Jared Kilnik and Aj Pollock, the left field platoon, which we have talked about a bunch in the first sixteen episodes of this podcast. If you want to hear about Jared episodes nine and twelve. If you want to hear about aj Pollock episodes seven and ten. If you want to hear more about the Mariners left field platoon, not much has really changed in that department. Before we continue with their outfield preview, Loile. A phenomenal idea was presented to us off the air by Corey Brock that I think deserves a little bit more light, an idea of an episode. He suggested me, you, himself, and Ryan Divish recording one of these at a bar. I could that I could not think of a better hour of entertainment than that. I like, I don't even know. If we would talk about baseball. 00:51:17 Speaker 2: That would be the best podcast we ever do, hands down. I mean, can make a live show out of it. Any of our listeners that wanted to find their way out to the bar and do a little live show with some cameras, I mean, that would be that would be awesome. I mean, like you said, we could just ask them all about what have they been eating and drinking on the road. 00:51:37 Speaker 1: To be honest, you know what I would want to ask about while because we talk about we talked about this stuff all time in school. It's like journalism stories. I mean, we could talk about that for hours, right, Yeah, like especially once some alcohol gets in your system. 00:51:54 Speaker 2: It's true because. 00:51:58 Speaker 1: You know, Ryan was one hundred sense sober. He was sober when he was here on the podcast with us, and he's still, you know, as open a guy as he gets, telling telling stories and explaining about his time on the beat. And Corey is the same way, talking talking about kind of stuff. And just just to imagine that Corey placed that thought in my head. I was like, Oh, my goodness, can we get everyone together, like set up a camera next to the bar and the four of us just sit there drinking each have a microphone. That sounds great. 00:52:25 Speaker 2: Mike in one hand, beer a mixed drink in the other hand, either just shooting the breeze about the Mariners or anything. I think. 00:52:34 Speaker 1: I know you're not drinking beer. What are you drinking? 00:52:38 Speaker 2: Yeah? This is something else we talked about the air or off the air a little bit too, is I've never been a big beer drinker. Corey's trying to persuade me otherwise. I guess I like to go with a mixed drink, like something like a Moscow mule instead. But TJ is a big beer beer drinker. It sounds like Corey is a craft beer fan, so maybe they would drink beers. 00:52:57 Speaker 1: Course, she just some sours, which I also for a while. I mean, it still has the texture of beer. It's still thick, it's still you know, a lot of carbs. For people who don't like really carby drinks. That is a very very Carby drink still, but it's at least sweet. It doesn't really taste like beer. It tastes like fruit, which is which is the goal of a sour. We talked about, you know, I grew up in Ballard. We talked about the Bawer Brewery district off off the air for about you know, fifteen minutes, and I know my dad and my brother who are probably listening to this episode pounding their hands down on the table, wondering where that that content is that I was thought we weren't able to get that on the air, and we kind of joked with Corey before he left. I was like, we could have put this whole second half of us not recording into it, like a completely different podcast episode. 00:53:43 Speaker 2: We could have and all that was great. Again, I was learning all about the Ballard Beer district. Yeah, Ballard bar scene and beer district. Because I haven't really been out to it that much. 00:53:53 Speaker 1: Yeah, I can't believe you haven't. So we'll have to go when when when I come back up sometime, we'll have to go and we can be well, I'll have you drink sours or you can just bring a road drink and sticket in your back pocket. 00:54:05 Speaker 2: I'll have to try some sours. 00:54:07 Speaker 1: Yeah, that'll be good. Back to baseball, it's a baseball podcast, of course. Let's continue with our outfield preview. We talked a lot of Julio already talked a lot of Tasker Hernandez with Corey Brock, talked about Jared a bunch, We've talked about AJ at Pollock bunch. You know who we haven't talked about who are the auxiliary guys in this outfield. So that's what I think. This segment is reserved for Sam Haggerty. Let's start with Sam. Sam, is you think about it for the way the rosters construction number one backup outfielder, because I'll qualify Jared and AJ as the two starters, both starters, I would say, now there's going to be a backup. So Sam is your backup outfielder. This guy will play an extremely important role on this team in twenty twenty three, and they can to have him hurt his groin like he did at the end of last season. Just getting into some spring training games. I think he's played two so far, but he played today and he played a couple of days ago as well, both at second base. Funny enough, but we're projecting Sam Haggerty in the outfield to play another important role here in this upcoming season. 00:55:20 Speaker 2: I was so devastated when I saw him get hurt at the end of the year last year. I was at that game the Mariners lost to the Tigers. I mean, they had already clinched the playoff spot at that point. It wasn't so much that they lost, But in the ninth inning of that game, Haggardy got hurt. You could tell how injured he was stealing second base, and I was just like, I just had my head hanging down because I was like, that is such a vital piece to this team that they could use in the postseason, especially if you need some speed. They just didn't have it. Now, it probably didn't affect the outcome of the season one way or another in the end, but point being looking ahead to twenty twenty three. Between his speed, between the defense he plays, he can actually hit the ball pretty well, especially from the right side. There's a lot that he brings to the table, especially on the speed and defensive side of things. So yeah, the Mariners are going to need him a lot, especially if there's ever an injury. He's going to be the next man up. 00:56:13 Speaker 1: He's worth two point two wins on Baseball Reference in just two hundred and one at bats. That's a six win player if you extrapolated out over a full season. Just to put into perspective how good he was in the short sample size you mentioned. Though. The way he got hurt is how he is best fit on this team. Though we saw it a little bit during last year when he got extended periods of playing time, got a little bit exposed at the plate, But his best value I think comes off the bench, playing defense and stealing bases late in the game. He was the third best Mariners base runner last year, behind Dylan Moore and Julio and almost half his stolen bases came from the seventh inning onwards. When you look at last year, that's where they need him, especially with these new rules with the sped up with a pitcher getting sped up, not paying his closest tension of first base, can't throw over as much with them. Probably just forgetting about Sam at first in the bigger bases as well, This is more indication for him to use what is his biggest strength and go steal bases late in games. 00:57:14 Speaker 2: He ranks on the ninetieth percentiland sprint speed. In other words, Sam Haggerty is very fast. There's a reason the Mariners like him a lot. And also, did you realize he had nine defensive runs saved this past year? I knew he was a pretty good outfielder, but I didn't realize his DRS got that high until digging into his numbers. I mean, that is a really, really good outfielder, and he can play both corner spots in a pinch if you need him too. He could play center field too. 00:57:42 Speaker 1: Actually, he was plus eleven drs. You're forgetting he had plus two defensive runs saved in twelve innings at second last year. 00:57:55 Speaker 2: Oh look at that? Yeah, you're right. Okay, so he had nine defensive run saved in the outfield. Yeah, if you want to in second base, then he had eleven. That's a good a really good defender. 00:58:04 Speaker 1: And that's a half season's worth of defense right there. So if you look at all of his defensive innings, he played about five hundred innings in the field. A full season for a guy in the outfields, what like eleven hundred ish innings along those lines. See you tell Sam, hey, go play eleven hundred and keep that same rate. That's Platinum Glove level defense they're from Sam Haggerty. He will be playing in the infield this year. Don't get us wrong. The Mariners seem fine with having him at second base. He could be that guy at second especially as a right handed hitter. They really need him in there, and they want his defense and they want to speed. That's good. But he is a good outfielder. We talk about Dylan Moore being a good backup corner outfielder and good defender. Sam Haggerty is a dude in outfield especially. It's kind it's kind of weird how how he's a much better defender and left and he wasn't right in about the same amount of innings. Maybe that has to do with arm strength, bit of shorter throw in left field than it is in right field. Plus seven in left field in two hundred and ten innings. That is insane. That's an insane number. 00:59:15 Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, how many more ways can you put it? Sam Haggarty's a good defender. There's a reason he gets time out there. There's a reason they put him in the game late because he can play defense and steal bases. He is a perfect role player, utility player, bench player, whatever you want to phrase it as. Sam Haggerty plays his role really well. Now on the offensive side of things, one sixteen ohps plus this past year. I mean he can hit, and he really hit from the right side. But TJ, I know you have your hesitancies about how sustainable that is long term. 00:59:50 Speaker 1: I just don't think we should crown someone after sixty six at bats. So well, you say seventy nine played appearances, sixty six at bats, and those sixty six at bats just let you know from a right as from the right side, he was better than Aaron Judge. In case you were wondering, he was better than Aaron Judge. Okay, we got that out of the way. His batting average on balls and play last year was four fifty five from the right side. It was a little little unsustainable, to say the least, so that though you can expect those numbers to come down a little bit from Sam Haggerty for the right side. What's more concerning get more at bats versus right handed pitchers than he did against lefties. He is not not a very good hitter as a left handed hitter. And if that's where a majority of the pictures the Mariers are going to face and they're forced to play him against righty's and make him hit lefty, He's just he's had a very good left handed hitter fifty three WRC plus hit like ops combined to be barely over five hundred. He struck out in nearly thirty percent of the time. It's just it's not very good. Good look. 01:01:03 Speaker 2: He may have a small sample size hitting as a righty, but I think the plug and play becomes much easier for the Mariners if Pollock were ever to get injured than if Kelnick does or yeah, yeah, that's right, yeah, if not, you got that, because if Kelnick gets injured, then you've got two guys that thrive against lefties in Haggarty and the small sample size and Pollock neither's great against righty's so yeah that we'll see what Haggarty does from the right side in twenty twenty three, but even in a short sample, that has proven to be his much better side. Also to your point about Babbitt, for people that aren't babbit nerds like we are, I guess, in other words English terms, four fifty five, he's not doing that again in twenty twenty three. There's no way. 01:01:54 Speaker 1: Batting average on balls and play. The league average is three hundred for batting average on balls and play, and he was one hundred and fifty points above that. You can usually sustain between a three fifty babbob and a two to fifty babbit depending on your bad agball profile. Akay, how hard you're hitting the baseball and where you're hitting it. Four fifty five is not sustainable, not at all. The last time anyone hit I mean, I know there's a Joey Vado in the second half of twenty sixteen hit over four hundred in the second half on balls in play. Oh no, no, no, he's hit wrong. Scratch that from the record. He hit four hundred. Yeah, but I could assume as balls and play was I was high too. I can't remember that. I was thinking another wrong number, but good thing to catch me on that. Regardless. For Sam Haggerty, though, the only question I have really is like, could you trust him as a regular if you need to? I don't think so yet. He's gonna be twenty nine this year. I think if we would have seen him as a regular, like a true regular with true hey, if we really need to make it play everyday value, we would have seen it by now. But in the plug and play factor, I still think Sam Haggerty ranks amongst the most valuable bench players in baseball. 01:03:12 Speaker 2: I think Dylan Moore is probably closer to an everyday player than Haggardy is. Haggarty has a very specific role because you're right between his profile that was less than ideal from the left side of the plate, combined with he got exposed a little bit as the season started to go on because he was hot during the summertime, like red hot. But then he started to tail off a little bit, which is expected. I'm with you. I think for the role he plays, he is phenomenal. However, it probably needs to be in that specific role a long term Sam Haggerty in a starting role. Maybe isn't the best fit for the Mariners in terms of succeeding in twenty twenty three, but for the role he's in, I think he's going to be really successful. Now if we want to change gears a little bit here and spend just a minute or two on Cooper Hummel, because we spend a decent chunk of time there on Haggarty. Cooper Hummel another guy we've talked about a little bit. His major league profile just off first Glands has not been glamorous. He's only played a little bit of time in the big leagues, but there is reason to believe he could go up from there again. Last year with the Diamondbacks, he played sixty six games. He hit one seventy six, his OPS was five eighty. Again not great, but he walks a lot, He is versatile, he has the ability to catch, and I just get the sense that a lot of those underlying numbers the Mariners saw in Humble when they traded for him, screamed to them that he has a chance to play a role on this team too. 01:04:41 Speaker 1: It's interesting speaking of that role Lyile Jerry went on on seven to ten last week, and said he thinks Cooper not only is gonna play corner outfield for the Mariners, it's gonna also play at the corner infield spots as well, which adds to versatility and the the profile they have of Cooper Hummel, they just like so much. The dude just walks so much every spot. In the miners, at some point he had over a fourteen percent walk rate, which is in the upper echelon if you were able to keep that in the major leagues. He did have a very high walk rate when he made it to the big leagues, he had eleven point four percent, but also struck out thirty two percent of the time, which was the issue. You cut down on those strikeouts and those walks creep up a little bit, and your offensive profile all of a sudden comes back to being more valuable. And if they can get a guy who can play four different spots or sorry, five to herd spots. I didn't even mention catcher, which is his position that he played at Portland when he got drafted and then but in the miners didn't catch quite as much because they didn't really need him to. And he's a better athlete, but a guy who could play five different positions for your ball club while walking at a high clip and just being valuable being there. It provides a lot of value for this baseball team. 01:06:02 Speaker 2: He caught a little bit in the first couple of games of spring training this past weekend, so they're trying to use him everywhere, which makes sense if you want him to be a super utility type of player. Now, he won't play the middle infield or anything like that, but corner outfield, corner infield, catcher. He does have a versatile profile and he can play a versatile role on this team. He also really hit throughout the miners. Like I know, his first stint was not pretty in the big leagues, and he is entering his age twenty eight season, so he's a little bit up there in age. This guy mashed through the minor leagues. I mean, you want to look at his twenty twenty two season as a whole. He hit. Now, he only played thirty three games in Reno, but in that time he ops nine to fifty, He hit six bombs, batting average at three ten and just about every level he's been at he hits. So he has proven just about everything he can in the miners. Last step for him for him is to see if it can click in the majors or not. 01:07:00 Speaker 1: And again, when you have a guy who walks that much, you think yes, because this guy has an idea of what he's going to do at the plate every time. It is really hard to be successful in the major leagues when you strike out thirty one percent of the time. Auenio Suarez, as we talked about a couple episodes ago, makes that, you know, is one of the few exceptions to that rule, striking out that much and being successful at the big league level. You mentioned his stint down in Triple A. He primarily played left field for the Diamondbacks at Reno last year in Triple A. So he's he you know, that is this spot he's played at in the minors, and if you can have his bat there with the corner outfield spot, corner outfielders are expected to hit a little bit more, so we can't do what he did, you know, hitting at the big league level last year while playing in the outfield that is that is a significant drop in production from what you expect from a corner outfield spot. But they're high on Cooper Humble and they've picked up guys like the guy we just talked about, Sam Haggarty, like Dylan Moore. You know these older, you know, sort of castaway guys that have carved out a role on the bench. Cooper Hommeo has a real chance to be that kind of guy with all the positions he can play and the potential offensive value that he can bring. And let's not forget the guy they gave up for Kyle Lewis. If you still on this roster, it would be DH only that that's where Kyle Lewis is at this point of his career, So you'll take the versatility with Cooper Hummel instead. 01:08:32 Speaker 2: We've covered a lot among these outfielders, Julio tay oscar Kelnick Pollock, Sam Haggerty, Cooper Hummel. Going into twenty twenty three, those are going to be the outfielders, and personally, I'm pretty excited to see what each of them can bring because this is a team that has a chance to be pretty exciting. The outfield plays a big part in that, so it should be fun. Okay, TJ, let's close this show. Out's speak your mind, Speak your mind, Spook. 01:09:02 Speaker 3: That would be unwise. 01:09:04 Speaker 1: What is necessary is never unwise. 01:09:09 Speaker 2: I know you've got some thoughts this week, so why don't you drop him on us? What are you thinking about? 01:09:15 Speaker 1: Did you? I'm I'm sure you knew Jake Paul was fighting yesterday on Sunday, right I did. 01:09:23 Speaker 2: I didn't watch, but I didn't know he was fighting? 01:09:25 Speaker 1: Yes, I didn't. Do people actually like watch that? Does anyone do any of our listeners like dms on Twitter if you do, or you could just add us. Do you actually buy the pay per view for Jake Paul? 01:09:36 Speaker 3: Please? 01:09:36 Speaker 1: Please explain? Like, do you actually take out your credit card and buy a pay per view to watch a YouTuber box? Do you do that? I think it is so fascinating. The popularity Jake Paul is brocked, and I'm honestly like, I respect it because the sport of boxing is not what it once was and it's it's kind of hard to get people to sit down and watch a true boxing match. But Jake Paul, despite fighting some of the worst fighters I've ever seen, like fighting YouTubers, fighting old people like Tommy Fury, who he fought this weekend, who's only claim to fame is the fact that his brother, his half brother is heavyweight champion Tyson Fury was eight to no. But his opponents ty Tommy Fury's opponents had a combined record of twenty four, one hundred and seventy six and five prior to stepping in the ring with Jake Paul, and Jake Paul still lost which was which was even funnier. It's just fascinating how many storylines that Jake Paul can bring out of fighting the like the absolute bottom of the barrel of the boxing world and still being as popular as possible. 01:10:59 Speaker 2: I just think it's hilarious that. Look, Jake Paul had fought some YouTubers and some boxing matches over the years in the past. I just think it's funny. When his hype train really started was when of all people, he boxed and beat Nate Robinson. 01:11:16 Speaker 1: Yeah, he beaten beat Nate Robinson. He beat what t s I? 01:11:21 Speaker 2: Ks I thought that was Logan. I thought it was Logan Paul that fought ks I. 01:11:26 Speaker 1: I don't keep I get the mixed up. Yeah he fought ks I. I should you know, honestly, I probably should have written down all the boxers he has, boxers he has fought. 01:11:38 Speaker 2: Ben Askron was another. I think, who's an older boxer. I believe, yeah, he retired. Mm hmm. 01:11:46 Speaker 1: It's crazy because I Jake Paul, regardless of he wins or loses, gets millions of dollars from this. He has made quite the production out of his boxing career, and I I don't respect it because I wish I could be like, you know, you're the bottom of the barrel of boxing, and you still are. You're such a good marketer that it doesn't matter. I just need him to eventually now fight Floyd made what like, Floyd is retired, but he would if j Paul writes him a big enough check, he would do it right. 01:12:20 Speaker 2: Well, Floyd Mayweather fought Logan Paul in some stupid exhibition fight a while back. It was like a year or two ago. Remember it was like seven or eight rounds. I mean there wasn't even a decision, AKA, there was no winner, but the two of them fought, and Floyd Mayweather's just basically messing around, like like he could have so easily knocked out Logan Paul if he wanted to, but he didn't. He was playing all his defense and he just kind of let it go. So maybe you'd fight Jake if he fought Logan. But yeah, it is wild that Jake Paul has now actually made a boxing career off of being just an amazing marketer. I guess, and think. 01:13:03 Speaker 1: About this, right, all the guys in the UFC trying to like fight their way up the UFC, they are in some just brutal fights. They are in some of the most grimy like like it is it is. It is hard, It is painful to fight UFC and you're like grappling on the ground. Arms are breaking, people's noses are getting broken. Meanwhile, Jake Paul is pretty much fighting nobody's like training for boxing in these exhibition matchups and making probably ten twenty times what all these you know, extremely talented UFC fighters are, which is which is really funny. 01:13:44 Speaker 2: It's incredible, it really is. Okay, so my Speak your Mind this week not boxing, but I'm excited for the month of March, not just because there's gonna be more spring training, because we're gonna get closer to March madness. The reason I'm excited for the munch the month of March, at least on this edition of Speak Your Mind, TV viewing is gonna be off the charts, at least in my world. Because ted Lasso's coming out season three. That is gonna be awesome. I can't remember, did you watch ted Lass or have you still not watched it? Still? Okay, still not watched ted Lasso. It's one of my favorite shows ever. It's so hilarious. So ted Lasso and then the one that we can share the likeness on Mandalorian's coming out for season three and I am excited for that. 01:14:32 Speaker 1: You've forgotten some major shows. And it also happens to overlap with Outer Banks coming out last week season three, and Last of Us has two more episodes left. All of these will overlap at the same exact time. Mando comes out tomorrow night, I believe tomorrow night at midnight Pacific. 01:14:51 Speaker 2: Yeah, that sounds right. Okay, So I haven't watched Outer Banks or Last of Us. I know they're super popular shows. 01:14:57 Speaker 1: You're missing out on some great television. They're dog I'm really disappointed you mentioned the month of March without mentioning my birthday. You know it's okay, Sorry, I'm not gonna take it personally. 01:15:09 Speaker 2: And that that's secondary to things like the Mandalorian and ted Latho. No I'm gread. Your birthday is easy to remember because you and my brother have birthdays on back to back days. So yes, I know it's next week. 01:15:23 Speaker 1: It's actually on Friday. Oh yeah, February next Yeah, February is weird. You're right, I understand, I get it. It is a very good month for television. I almost thought about doing that for my speaker mind, but I guessed you might do it, so my I mean, my biggest concern is I don't know when I'm gonna have time to watch all this television, aka, like, do I have to watch out? Should I finish Outer Banks first? Because Netflix is gonna lock me out of my parents' Netflix account soon because I haven't connected to the home Wi Fi, Like, I don't know how when that's supposed to click into place. I need to, like, I need to. I need to to decide on on my my my order of how I'm gonna watch things. I think I'm gonna have to knock out outer Banks first. I think get the Netflix shows done first. 01:16:09 Speaker 2: Well, it sounds like it if if you're gonna get locked out of the account, So sure, yeah, start with outer Banks and then go from there. Maybe I'll still have to give Outer Banks a shot. Somebody just the other day was telling me that it's also a really good show. I just I don't know, isn't it like just kind of duh. It's no, it's not really. It's a team it's drama. It's like it's like a. 01:16:31 Speaker 1: Team drama, but like no different than the fact that Cobra Kai is a team drama. 01:16:37 Speaker 2: That's true. All rights just. 01:16:39 Speaker 1: Has you know, it's a little darker. It's not like it's not as light and like oh corny karate it's like actual real life. It's interesting though. 01:16:49 Speaker 2: Okay, well, maybe that needs to be on my next checklist of shows to watch because. 01:16:54 Speaker 1: When Banks for the first time, when I watch Out of Banks for the first time, I watched the entire first season and I believe twenty four hours. Think it's quick, so it really real. 01:17:07 Speaker 2: It really reels you in. Like I remember when I watched Cobra Kai for the first time, thinking, yeah, I like the Karate Kid movies. I'll give it a shot. I think I watched like seven or eight episodes just straight through because I got so hooked on the show. So maybe Outer Banks will do the same thing if I give it a shot. If I do, I'll report back here on the show and give you my review. 01:17:27 Speaker 3: But gop. 01:17:30 Speaker 2: That just goes out, Oh well, I will do that. As soon as I watch it. I will get back on the show and give it a review. That just about wraps us up for this edition of the Marine Layer Podcast. You guys know, if you want to listen to the full podcast, you can do so on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, and Google. And for the video podcast, you can get the full form podcast on YouTube. On social media, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube shorts at marine Layer Pod. Also a little ex that's for note too meant to do it at the start of the podcast. But if you guys ever have listener questions that you want to send in, we'd love to take them and we'd love to answer some questions on the show. So if you guys ever have questions that you want to send in, you can d m us on Twitter, you can d m us on Instagram, or you can send us an email Marine Layer Pod at gmail dot com For TJ. Matthewson. This has been Lyle Goldstein. As always, we thank you guys for tuning in. We'll talk to you next week,