Episode 174: Grading The 2024 Mariners Outfield

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[00:00:55] Welcome to Episode number 174 of the Marine Layer Podcast.

[00:00:59] It's our 2024 Mariners Outfield grades.

[00:01:03] We'll grade the Mariners Outfield from this past season.

[00:01:06] We'll also close out the show with Speak Your Mind.

[00:01:09] This show is brought to you by our friends over at Pogaccia's Pub 85.

[00:01:12] You're gonna hear us continue to talk about it.

[00:01:14] It's an awesome place to hang out, especially in October when there's sports going on left and right from football, college, and the pros, MLV playoffs, basketball, hockey.

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[00:01:27] There's games, there's great food, and $3 and $4 happy hour specials.

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[00:02:09] Let's get it rolling.

[00:02:22] And we welcome you to this episode of the Marine Layer Podcast, part of the Just Baseball Podcast Network, recording on Thursday evening, October 17th.

[00:02:32] We just finished up watching Game 3 between the Guardians and the Yankees, and I have three major takeaways from how that game finished before we dive into our outfielder grades.

[00:02:41] Number 1, objectively, awesome game.

[00:02:45] I think we can all agree on that.

[00:02:47] Number 2, the result is bad for the agenda.

[00:02:50] It was the lowest money team winning the game.

[00:02:52] Number 3, I've never seen a player who embodies what Jack Zarensic wanted on the 2009 to 2015 Seattle Mariners than Big Christmas, the guy who hit the game-tying home run for the Guardians in the bottom of the ninth inning with two outs.

[00:03:13] Is that a fair assessment?

[00:03:15] Yes, but I also would like to counter and say, can you say his name?

[00:03:21] John Kenzie.

[00:03:22] God, what's his last name?

[00:03:24] Noel.

[00:03:24] John Kenzie Noel.

[00:03:25] There we go.

[00:03:26] It is a really funky spelling, I will say.

[00:03:30] It is, but when you actually just sound it out, it's essentially like two first names.

[00:03:34] John and then Kenzie.

[00:03:36] One guy's name, one girl's name.

[00:03:37] So, it's not that difficult.

[00:03:39] But we were just talking about him because when I spent my one season broadcasting minor league baseball when I was in Dayton, we would see Lake County all the time, which was the Guardians high A team.

[00:03:50] And John Kenzie Noel was there for the first half of the year.

[00:03:52] So, I got to see him a bunch back in 2022.

[00:03:55] And to your point about him embodying the Jack Z theory, that guy, he had power like nobody's business.

[00:04:02] When I would sit and watch that guy take batting practice, it was a show and a half.

[00:04:07] It was an absolute laser show watching that batting practice.

[00:04:11] And then even in games, look, he struck out a ton.

[00:04:14] But when that guy connected, his home runs and the hard hit balls that would come off his bat, it looked pretty much identical to the home run we just saw here on Thursday night in Cleveland.

[00:04:24] That guy is everything that Jack Z would look at and say, yeah, I want him.

[00:04:30] But Jack, but Jack, he's not an athlete.

[00:04:32] He strikes out.

[00:04:33] He can't play many positions.

[00:04:34] Yeah, I know.

[00:04:35] I want him.

[00:04:37] RBI's and home runs, baby.

[00:04:39] Woo!

[00:04:40] He was really fun to watch.

[00:04:42] Did he have that nickname in the minors?

[00:04:44] I don't think so.

[00:04:45] I think that started this year.

[00:04:46] I never heard anybody call him big Christmas from the Lake County team or broadcasters, anything like that.

[00:04:52] I think that's pretty new.

[00:04:54] Yeah.

[00:04:55] Okay.

[00:04:56] Well, he contributed to what was a phenomenal game.

[00:04:59] Like the game the Guardians and the Yankees just gave us was arguably the best game of the postseason.

[00:05:05] So shout out to them.

[00:05:07] Hopefully the rest of the series is good.

[00:05:09] However, again, Lyle, as we say, the agenda stays.

[00:05:12] Yes.

[00:05:12] Of what we want.

[00:05:14] The Yankees need to win the next two, dominate and go to the World Series.

[00:05:18] So that way we can say, Yankees one in five, the much better constructed team with a real payroll, steamrolls the team with a terrible ownership that doesn't invest.

[00:05:28] And the one game that the Guardians won, we can say everything had to go their way.

[00:05:33] They were, I mean, Luke Weaver was down to the final out in that ninth inning before big Christmas hit the home run.

[00:05:40] And then they were an out away from getting out of the 10th too, before David Fry walked it off.

[00:05:45] Paired with that.

[00:05:46] The Yankees had a lead that it seemed like all the momentum was swinging their way.

[00:05:51] A lot of things went Cleveland's way in that game.

[00:05:53] So let's just hope the Yankees steamroll them the next couple.

[00:05:56] And then we can say, great.

[00:05:58] Exactly as planned.

[00:05:59] It's been a crazy postseason for closers.

[00:06:02] Start with like Devin Williams in the wildcard round giving up a home run to Pete Alonso.

[00:06:07] Like that was a crazy start.

[00:06:09] Emmanuel Klaas says ERA right now in the postseason is nine, which is, wow, 18 times higher than his ERA was in the regular season.

[00:06:20] That's pretty crazy.

[00:06:22] The fact he gave up back to back home runs today was already bonkers.

[00:06:26] And then Luke Weaver, I know this stats like pretty niche.

[00:06:29] He gave up one home run on his change up all season long.

[00:06:32] And who's that home?

[00:06:33] Who hit the home run?

[00:06:34] It was Cal Rolla.

[00:06:36] What a guy.

[00:06:37] This postseason, Luke Weaver is now giving up two home runs on his change up, both in this series to the Guardians.

[00:06:45] It's crazy how stuff works.

[00:06:47] Postseason's wild.

[00:06:49] Emmanuel Klaas say, I would say, I'm guessing you would say, I think a lot of people would say is the best closer on the planet.

[00:06:56] But in the postseason, he's looked pretty human.

[00:06:58] He hasn't looked at.

[00:06:59] He hasn't looked immortal.

[00:07:00] That's for sure.

[00:07:01] He has had his struggles.

[00:07:02] Wasn't just here in game three against the Yankees.

[00:07:04] He has had some bad outing so far.

[00:07:08] And I think some of that is probably due to the stress.

[00:07:12] Not only the pressure, it's just how many pitches he has to throw in the postseason.

[00:07:16] And they've been leaning on him in the eighth inning earlier and earlier and earlier in games to get stuff done.

[00:07:22] So when that when that happens, you know, stuff floats over the plate, gets hit over the wall.

[00:07:27] Aaron Judge is pretty good.

[00:07:29] He's probably going to go to the Hall of Fame.

[00:07:30] So he's going to run into pitches eventually.

[00:07:33] Although Emmanuel Klaas, they might go to the Hall of Fame, too.

[00:07:35] It's early.

[00:07:37] That's true.

[00:07:37] That's true.

[00:07:38] Aaron Judge might be slotted higher in the Hall of Fame.

[00:07:40] More closer to the inner circle.

[00:07:43] Mm hmm.

[00:07:44] Well, yes.

[00:07:45] Judge, I would assume at this point when Judge gets in, he's going to be close to a unanimous vote.

[00:07:50] As long as everything that he's doing right now sustains to some extent for a few more years.

[00:07:55] Do you think Stanton, who hit the go ahead home run for the Yankees in this game, do you think he has?

[00:08:00] He will.

[00:08:02] Hall of Fame.

[00:08:03] You know, he's always had an interesting case because he has a chance to get to 500 home runs.

[00:08:08] But it's funny.

[00:08:10] I feel like when people think about John Carlos Stanton now, it's almost like his time in Miami was another life.

[00:08:16] And what everybody seems to remember is all of his time on the shelf in the Bronx because he's been so injured the last few years.

[00:08:23] It's an interesting case.

[00:08:24] The guy has an MVP.

[00:08:26] He almost had a second.

[00:08:28] He's had some unbelievable years.

[00:08:29] He had a, what, a 58 home run year or whatever that was?

[00:08:33] Yeah, 59, I think.

[00:08:34] 59.

[00:08:35] Yeah, so nearly a 60 home run year.

[00:08:37] That was when he won the MVP.

[00:08:39] And he's going to get close to 500 homers.

[00:08:42] He's got an interesting case, but I feel like if you ask most people, they'd say, yeah, he's probably not a Hall of Famer.

[00:08:48] He's still got a few years left on his contract, too.

[00:08:52] I forget how long that contract runs.

[00:08:53] It was, what, 13 years when he signed it.

[00:08:57] So, 13 years, right?

[00:08:58] Yeah.

[00:08:58] 13 years when he signed it.

[00:08:59] So he's got a little bit on that contract to go.

[00:09:01] So if he keeps playing, he's got a pretty solid chance to hit that 500 home run mark.

[00:09:06] The, like the peripheral numbers look like it.

[00:09:08] I would say, to be honest, it doesn't really feel like it.

[00:09:11] It feels like a Hall of Very Good player.

[00:09:14] But he might get in just because of the home runs.

[00:09:16] John Carlos Stanton has three years left on that contract and a club option for 2028, which I'm sure at 38 years old, the Yankees will not be picking up.

[00:09:25] But still pretty crazy.

[00:09:27] He's going to make $32 million next year and $19 million in 2026 and $15 million in 2027.

[00:09:33] Yeah.

[00:09:34] So, he's going to be an interesting case whenever he gets on the ballot.

[00:09:38] What, like eight years from now?

[00:09:39] Eight-ish?

[00:09:40] Assuming he retires when that contract is done.

[00:09:42] Eight, ten years, however many.

[00:09:44] But a very interesting thought.

[00:09:47] Let's get to some of the Mariners outfielders.

[00:09:49] And let's get to our 2024 Mariners outfield grades.

[00:09:53] We're going to start in right field and we're going to go all the way around the diamond and we're going to finish with DH.

[00:09:58] That's how we're going to structure this.

[00:10:00] So, let's start off in right.

[00:10:02] And let's start off with the most electric.

[00:10:04] Sorry, let me rephrase that.

[00:10:07] You actually know what?

[00:10:08] I am right on that one.

[00:10:09] Let's start off with the most electric Mariners season this year.

[00:10:14] Victor Robles.

[00:10:15] What is his grade?

[00:10:17] He gets an A for me.

[00:10:19] Because remember, these are on curves.

[00:10:21] What do we expect Robles to do?

[00:10:23] And what did he actually do?

[00:10:25] How we grade Julio, given what his prestige is, is different than how we're going to grade Victor Robles.

[00:10:30] For what he was expected to do when he signed here and what he ended up doing.

[00:10:35] A.

[00:10:35] It's not even close.

[00:10:37] A plus for me.

[00:10:38] Oh, even better.

[00:10:39] Blew it out of the water.

[00:10:40] He was positive and everything run value on Savant, which is great.

[00:10:46] All the things he brought to the Mariners, like the personality he brought, the speed he brought, the contact ability he brought.

[00:10:55] Something the rest of the roster did not really offer.

[00:10:58] From April through the end of July.

[00:11:02] Really.

[00:11:04] Not at all.

[00:11:05] It was nowhere to be found.

[00:11:06] But Victor Robles was bringing it, essentially all on his own.

[00:11:09] He was the type of player the Mariners so desperately needed this season.

[00:11:14] And I'm struggling to think of what the Mariners' season would have looked like this year if they didn't pick up Victor Robles for essentially free.

[00:11:23] I'll tell you what their season would have looked like.

[00:11:25] Yes, technically, did he put up 3.2 wins above replacement?

[00:11:29] Yes.

[00:11:29] So in literal sense, in analytical sense, if you want to say the Mariners would have been an 81 to 82 win team without Victor Robles.

[00:11:37] Okay, you can say that.

[00:11:39] What do I actually think they would have been without him?

[00:11:42] Under 500 for sure.

[00:11:44] No chance they finish over 500 if not for Victor Robles.

[00:11:47] Just think of who else gets playing time if Victor Robles isn't occupying a corner spot.

[00:11:53] You want to have your pick of the litter?

[00:11:56] Don Canzone's 652 OPS.

[00:12:00] Mitch Hanegar's 620 OPS.

[00:12:03] Cade Marlow, who we barely saw, only got eight at-bats this season.

[00:12:07] Dylan Moore's 695 OPS when he's in the outfield this year.

[00:12:12] Jonathan Classe's 631 OPS before he got traded.

[00:12:16] Do any of those intrigue you?

[00:12:19] Not entirely.

[00:12:21] Not entirely.

[00:12:23] I gotta be honest.

[00:12:25] Yeah.

[00:12:26] There is no way you finish over 500 without Victor Robles.

[00:12:29] And to your point, it's so all-encompassing.

[00:12:34] It's everything from the off-the-field stuff to what he did in the clubhouse and how much he meant to the fans in such a short time and how quickly he won the city over to everything on the field.

[00:12:45] And what you said can't be overstated.

[00:12:47] The fact that they finally had a guy hitting toward the top of the order, especially during some of that time when J.P. Crawford was out.

[00:12:54] It just wasn't striking out.

[00:12:55] 18% strikeout rate.

[00:12:57] Justin Turner helped with that too because he wasn't a big strikeout guy either.

[00:13:01] But to have a couple guys in that lineup, especially somebody at the top like Robles, who you knew, okay, he is going to compete and give us a chance.

[00:13:09] He is not going to whiff, whiff, whiff and punch out on three pitches and the at-bats over.

[00:13:14] That's not what he did.

[00:13:15] And that was incredibly valuable.

[00:13:18] There were some very tangible differences he had made from his past career norms.

[00:13:24] I'm very curious if it holds over to 2025.

[00:13:28] He could see a little bit of regression.

[00:13:30] I don't think, while he's going to hit over .300 again, that feels like a very high expectation for him next year.

[00:13:37] A .381 on base, a .433 slug this year.

[00:13:40] Just the four home runs.

[00:13:42] His approach will lead him to more production.

[00:13:44] I don't quite know if he's going to have a .141 WRC plus for a second consecutive season.

[00:13:51] It would be one of the most remarkable multi-year turnarounds that a player has had recently if he goes from what he was in Washington to what he was this year in Seattle and then continues it on for another season.

[00:14:06] That feels like a lot.

[00:14:08] But it doesn't mean that Victor Robles going into next season can't be an incredibly productive player.

[00:14:13] Whether that be a full-time player, whether it be a platoon player, however much that is.

[00:14:19] And the Mariners agreed with us when they gave him his new contract at the end of July.

[00:14:23] A two-year extension.

[00:14:25] So, there's really a lot to like in sort of a win-win deal with what Victor Robles brought and what he will bring to the Mariners in the future.

[00:14:33] And hopefully, you know, we get to see him and full-speed Julio for a whole season together playing their best.

[00:14:41] Because I don't know how many other tandems in baseball can match the level of fun, the level of swag, the level of really just personality that those two can bring to an outfield.

[00:14:52] Like seriously, desperately needed.

[00:14:53] We talked about it when Victor Robles got his extension.

[00:14:56] But like the injection of personality in the outfield was a legitimate thing.

[00:15:00] Dead serious.

[00:15:01] A legitimate thing that Victor Robles brought that was just sorely lacking in this outfield this season.

[00:15:08] It's really nice to see.

[00:15:09] You're talking about just those two guys.

[00:15:11] Shouldn't we throw Randy into that too?

[00:15:13] Yeah.

[00:15:14] Well, Randy too.

[00:15:14] But at that point, it was just Julio and Robles for two months before Randy got there.

[00:15:19] Mm-hmm.

[00:15:20] Yeah, for sure.

[00:15:21] But in 2025, when you talk about looking out at the outfield, those three guys, that's pretty fun.

[00:15:27] I will ask you though, if Victor Robles' role is going to be a platoon guy, from which side?

[00:15:34] Because the guy for his career, at least when the Mariners brought him over, said, okay, he can at least be competitive against lefties.

[00:15:42] Well, Victor Robles this year had a 98 WRC plus against left-handed pitching and a 163 against righties.

[00:15:51] Which side?

[00:15:54] Well, based on how the Mariners operate, Lyle, they'll just let him in against lefties.

[00:15:58] Come on, you know this.

[00:15:59] They're just going to look at handiness.

[00:16:02] That would be actually unreal.

[00:16:04] It would be.

[00:16:05] What would it surprise you?

[00:16:08] No.

[00:16:09] Yeah.

[00:16:09] But again, well, actually, you know what?

[00:16:11] Yes.

[00:16:12] Because we can pick apart this franchise for a lot of things, but we know that front office is very, very analytically sound.

[00:16:20] They've got this number in front of us.

[00:16:22] They've got it in front of us because we've got it in front of us, and they've got a million other things in front of them too.

[00:16:26] There's no way they see that and say, yeah, he's not hitting righties again.

[00:16:31] But they also probably don't think he's that bad against lefties for another season.

[00:16:36] If they truly believe he's turned a corner offensively with what he's brought, they wouldn't think that he's going to be that bad against lefties again.

[00:16:44] So it sounds like to start the year, he should just be the full-time right fielder.

[00:16:48] No platoons!

[00:16:49] Whoa!

[00:16:50] What a concept!

[00:16:52] No platoons!

[00:16:54] Incredible.

[00:16:54] But only they would listen to that part too.

[00:16:56] Mm-hmm.

[00:16:57] Mm-hmm.

[00:16:58] I gotta say.

[00:16:59] I would say, I am willing to give him the full-time job to start.

[00:17:03] Seriously.

[00:17:03] Yeah.

[00:17:04] To start, if he shows some struggles and regresses a little bit, which again is very likely.

[00:17:10] Let's just remember, Lyle, he only played a little bit less than half a season's worth of plate appearances as a Mariner.

[00:17:16] Like, let's just bring some context in.

[00:17:19] There's still a lot of plate appearances left on the table for what a full-time player could bring.

[00:17:23] So the numbers aren't, you know, 650 to 700 plate appearances of a 141 WRC+.

[00:17:31] No, it's just like 300.

[00:17:34] Yeah.

[00:17:35] No, you're right.

[00:17:36] But again, that's why you start him out in the full-time role.

[00:17:39] You gave him the contract.

[00:17:40] He put up the season he did.

[00:17:41] I think he's earned it at this point.

[00:17:43] And the fact that against the side of the handiness of pitchers that he supposedly was going to struggle against in righties, did the opposite.

[00:17:53] He was a legit all-star slash MVP candidate within that time sample against right-handed pitching.

[00:17:59] 163 WRC+.

[00:18:01] Those numbers win you MVPs.

[00:18:04] So, yeah.

[00:18:05] Let him start as the full-time guy.

[00:18:07] And if struggles occur, fine.

[00:18:09] You can adjust as the season goes.

[00:18:12] If he ends up hitting lefties better in 2025 because things either regress or just shake out that way, then he platoons.

[00:18:20] But let him start out with the role.

[00:18:22] I'll say this, too.

[00:18:24] I've got two more points I want to hit on with Robles.

[00:18:26] You talked about the 77 games.

[00:18:28] I mentioned earlier he put up a 3.2 war for the year.

[00:18:33] This isn't perfect science.

[00:18:36] But is it pretty crazy to talk about that when you prorate that war over the course of a full season for Victor Robles,

[00:18:44] that spits out a guy who is living up to the hype that he once was as a prospect.

[00:18:51] That's a seven-win season or near to it if Victor Robles pulls a full year at that rate, plays a full year at that rate.

[00:18:58] Seven wins.

[00:18:59] The guy was a top-five prospect once upon a time.

[00:19:02] And we know it takes some guys longer than others to figure things out.

[00:19:05] Sometimes it takes a change of scenery.

[00:19:07] Will Victor Robles put up seven wins in 2025?

[00:19:10] I'm not going to bet on it.

[00:19:12] But when you look at what he did this year, that's pretty crazy to say.

[00:19:15] You say, yeah, that right there is the guy who was a top-five prospect.

[00:19:20] Ranked higher than Juan Soto.

[00:19:22] Let's not forget that.

[00:19:24] Way high.

[00:19:24] It was the, oh, Bryce Harper is about to walk in free agency.

[00:19:28] Look, we have a top-five prospect.

[00:19:31] We should be okay.

[00:19:33] Mm-hmm.

[00:19:33] Like, that was almost the expectation there for him.

[00:19:36] That's crazy.

[00:19:38] Like, that's a little crazy proration.

[00:19:40] I have one more point to add on here, too, before you get to your last one.

[00:19:44] Just to paint a broad brush over Victor Robles' turnaround, I want you to hear some of these

[00:19:51] fastball numbers he had had in the past.

[00:19:53] And then what he turned around to do in, did I take your last point?

[00:19:57] This is what I was going to bring up.

[00:19:58] So, yeah, go ahead.

[00:20:00] And then what he did with the Mariners in 2024 and what he was starting to do with the Nationals

[00:20:04] before he came here.

[00:20:05] Like, he had historically sucked against fastballs.

[00:20:07] Like, legitimately terrible.

[00:20:09] He could not catch up to velocity.

[00:20:10] It was a huge issue for him.

[00:20:12] He's plus-9 run value against fastballs this year.

[00:20:15] Previous years was negative 1, negative 4, negative 6, negative 7, negative 8.

[00:20:18] Terrible.

[00:20:19] Fastball.

[00:20:19] Like, a pitch that goes straight into the zone that you know is coming, can't hit it.

[00:20:24] But this year he was really good at it.

[00:20:25] He was good against most pitches, but fastballs were his best pitch this year.

[00:20:29] A total 180 from past years.

[00:20:32] And it shows that we've seen the breakdown of his new stance and what he brought starting

[00:20:39] last year in Washington.

[00:20:40] He got hurt.

[00:20:41] He wasn't able to get a full season in.

[00:20:42] This year, like, was continuing to do that.

[00:20:46] Comes to the Mariners.

[00:20:46] Gets more opportunity to play.

[00:20:48] And that widened stance.

[00:20:49] The almost lower Gene Segura hands really helped him.

[00:20:53] I mean, really helped him.

[00:20:55] Eliminated the leg kick.

[00:20:56] Focused on contact.

[00:20:58] The difference was just night and day.

[00:21:00] And the Mariners are ever so happy that it was.

[00:21:03] And against those fastballs, he slugged 600.

[00:21:08] 600.

[00:21:10] Victor Robles.

[00:21:11] The guy who couldn't catch up to fastballs most of his career.

[00:21:14] Slugged 600 against heaters with the Mariners in 2024.

[00:21:17] Pretty cool.

[00:21:18] And like you said, he didn't always hit other pitches great.

[00:21:21] He struggled with secondaries when he was in Washington too.

[00:21:24] Yet another reason he had problems as a hitter.

[00:21:26] He turned a lot of that around this year.

[00:21:29] It wasn't just fastballs he was hitting.

[00:21:31] He stayed right on some of those secondaries.

[00:21:34] I'm really excited to see what he does in 2025.

[00:21:36] Yeah, me too.

[00:22:03] Thank you.

[00:22:32] We're ready to

[00:22:35] basically go to the opposite end of the totem pole here. This might be as drastic of a

[00:22:39] transition as we do all show. Let's do it. The other member of the right field group,

[00:22:47] Mitch Hanegar, what is your grade? D minus. So I gave him a D. We're about in the same boat.

[00:22:57] It is really hard to give anything else and honestly really hard to justify not giving him

[00:23:05] an F with this year when you legitimately can make a case that Mitch Hanegar brought

[00:23:10] zero or negative value to the Mariners. Base running, no. Offense, no. Defense, no. Lost his

[00:23:18] playing time at the end of the season and is owed $15.5 million next year in a player option that

[00:23:25] he's absolutely going to pick up and he should because it's in his contract. But outside of a

[00:23:30] couple of savant positives, Lyle, his average age of velocity was up. His hard hit rate was

[00:23:36] decent. His bat speed was fine. Didn't chase a whole lot. Walked a decent amount. Didn't lead

[00:23:42] to much offensive production though. It was just not there. From a guy in Victor Robles who put up a

[00:23:48] nine run value against fastballs, Mitch Hanegar combined against four seamers and two seamers

[00:23:54] combined, negative five run value. Couldn't hit him. Couldn't hit sliders. Couldn't hit the

[00:24:01] straight stuff. In 90 games in the outfield, now to your defensive point, negative five

[00:24:07] outs above average. All while striking out 30% of the time. He just, it just wasn't, it just didn't

[00:24:15] work. They tried to trade back for him. Obviously he's a fan favorite. He'll be loved here forever.

[00:24:21] But trying to trade back for Mitch Hanegar in 2024 and get a lot out of him and with a team that was

[00:24:28] trying to make the playoffs and make a run didn't work because like you said, it hurts to say,

[00:24:33] because again, everybody loves Mitch Hanegar, but we're sitting here objectively saying he did not

[00:24:38] do anything well this year. Just like, just to look at the baseline stats at 208, 286, 334 slash line,

[00:24:47] 85 WRC plus was worth negative 0.6 fan graphs, wins above replacement. You mentioned a 30%

[00:24:55] strikeout rate. He struck out at the highest rate of his career. He had the slowest sprint speed that

[00:25:00] he's ever had in the big leagues. It just shows age. He's getting old and the injuries have caught up

[00:25:07] to him too. He's had a lot of injuries in his career that didn't help, but also the process,

[00:25:13] Lyle of getting him has to factor into this grade and what the Mariners were trying to achieve

[00:25:18] acquiring Mitch Hanegar back. It was essentially supposed to be a salary swap of Mitch Hanegar and

[00:25:24] Robbie Ray. Robbie Ray needs to put up a half decent year next year to just blow the Mariners out of the

[00:25:29] water because Mitch Hanegar has a very decent chance that they roll up to spring training. He's not on

[00:25:35] the roster. The Mariners are eating 15 and a half million dollars of dead weight. How much changes this

[00:25:40] offseason if Robbie Ray is still a Mariner and you have the ability if you want to because you have six

[00:25:47] legit big league starters to flip a starter for a bat? It sounds a lot worse now when you don't have a

[00:25:54] clear-cut major league ready replacement for that traded starter, but if Robbie Ray was here, you would.

[00:26:01] And people will say, well, domino effect. How would everything have shaken out if Robbie had stayed

[00:26:07] here? Well, guess what? Brian Wu still would have been pitching last year because Robbie Ray got hurt.

[00:26:13] Bryce Miller took his spot. When Marco went down, eventually Wu came up. They saw what they had in

[00:26:19] both those guys. And then because Robbie spent over half the year recovering from Tommy John surgery,

[00:26:25] it's not like Wu wasn't going to throw big league innings this year. He still was. He still would

[00:26:30] have been throwing big league innings. And seeing what we saw from Brian Wu this year, it's very,

[00:26:34] very clear how high that guy's ceiling is and how established he already is at the big league level

[00:26:39] without even throwing a full season yet. So you would still know, oh, we have an established Brian

[00:26:45] Wu or pretty close to established while also still having Robbie Ray on the roster. Yeah. You would feel

[00:26:51] a lot better about trading somebody away knowing that you had somebody to replace him because Robbie Ray,

[00:26:59] aside from the Tommy John, is always healthy. He will be healthy next year.

[00:27:04] And assuming he doesn't walk into free agency, because remember, he does have that opt out after

[00:27:09] this year. There's no way he's taking that. There's no way after putting up a 4-7 ERA and seven

[00:27:14] starts and just recovering from an injury, he's turning down what's roughly $46 million over the

[00:27:20] next two years. No way. So if that was the case, you'd still have somebody to replace in the rotation

[00:27:26] and you could go out and get a real bat. Instead, you're stuck with $15 and a half million to a player who

[00:27:32] very well might not be on the roster. Do you think he'll be on the roster next year?

[00:27:38] You're teeing me up for it, aren't you? Let me say this. Fans have learned a lot about

[00:27:45] Mariners ownership, I would say, in the last four years. I would say the picture started to get painted

[00:27:50] a lot clearer to fans about who this ownership group was when all the Kevin Mather stuff went down.

[00:27:56] I'll be honest, I barely knew John Stanton's name before all the Mather stuff. Just didn't really

[00:28:02] register to me. I didn't think about it that much. Now we know a lot about this ownership group.

[00:28:08] And let me say this, we can jump to conclusions based on information we already have about them,

[00:28:15] but I will say this. If Mitch Hanegar is on this roster in 2025, that speaks louder volumes about this

[00:28:24] ownership group than anything we have seen yet to this point in this regime. If you keep Mitch Hanegar

[00:28:31] on the 2025 Seattle Mariners roster, that says we care more about not losing money than winning.

[00:28:40] Plain and simple.

[00:28:42] It's well said. I don't really have anything else to add because I, frankly, the best 26-man roster next

[00:28:48] season does not include Mitch Hanegar on it. I don't see how you justify it. He doesn't have the

[00:28:53] athleticism to come off the bench. He's not the bat he once was to DH, and he can't play good enough

[00:29:00] defense in the outfield for you to justify him playing him in the outfield next year.

[00:29:05] And not, especially not, especially not if you're playing Randy on the other side, because

[00:29:09] we'll get to Randy's defense. His defense this year was not very good. So you can't have

[00:29:14] two corner outfield spots, which just are, is deadweight defensively.

[00:29:19] And when Mitch was brought here prior to the start of the 24 season, part of it was the Mariners said,

[00:29:26] well, he'll just hit lefties. He'll be part of a platoon. Mitch Hanegar put up a 45 WRC plus

[00:29:32] against left-handed pitching this year. Yet another factor that plays into why he can't be on the

[00:29:37] roster because he can't even play that role. He wasn't hitting lefties. What role would he play if

[00:29:42] he was here in 2025? Because here's the pecking order for outfield reps. Julio, Randy, Robles.

[00:29:50] Even if Luke Raley plays more first base next year, he is still an outfielder. You've also got Dylan

[00:29:57] Moore who can play the outfield very well, runs well, maybe not a great arm, but perfectly fine

[00:30:04] defender and was an above average hitter this year by WRC plus. Where does Mitch Hanegar rank in the

[00:30:11] pecking order? Legitimately, he's sixth. And if going into a season, a guy who's sixth on the

[00:30:16] totem pole for outfield reps, that's also making 15 and a half million dollars. Ownership says we're

[00:30:22] going to keep that guy speaks all the volumes you need to see. That's well said. And again,

[00:30:30] it like, this isn't fun to say about Mitch Hanegar. He's a fan favorite. We love Mitch Hanegar.

[00:30:34] I'll always love Mitch Hanegar, but we're talking about out of objectivity, what is best for the

[00:30:40] roster in a baseball sense in 2025? And it's just very clear. He doesn't have enough to provide

[00:30:47] anymore. Let's get to the big fish. The big fish of the outfield is center fielder Julio Rodriguez.

[00:30:55] What is your grade for Julio's 2024 season? Before I even give it out, I think this is another good

[00:31:03] time to remind people. These grades are going to be on curves. Certain guys have higher expectations

[00:31:10] than others. Your center fielder has much higher expectations than others. If you were to look at

[00:31:17] this in a nutshell and say he had a near four win season, a lot of people would give that an A.

[00:31:21] Knowing how his first half went and who he was supposed to be this year, I give Julio a B minus.

[00:31:28] And I gave him a C plus. I just can't get the first half out of my mind of how frustrated I felt

[00:31:35] watching him at the plate and watching the Mariners offense crater into the ground and him supposed to

[00:31:42] be the best player on the roster and the best hitter on the roster just seemingly look overmatched at the

[00:31:48] plate was extremely frustrating. I think it's really hard to look at this 2024 season for Julio Rodriguez

[00:31:55] as anything else than a disappointment. The final numbers look good. They look okay. Sorry, good's

[00:32:02] the wrong word. I say they look okay for what Julio's expectations are. Four wins, the 117 WRC plus.

[00:32:09] The excellent defense was really good. I will say this. If those numbers were attached to Randy

[00:32:17] Rosarena or Victor Robles' name, be a different conversation. Those guys don't have the expectations

[00:32:22] that Julio has. Correct. So when you look, when you put it into context of who Julio Rodriguez is and

[00:32:30] what our expectations for him are and the contract that he has attached to him, it's hard to look at

[00:32:36] his season as anything other than a disappointment, I think. Because frankly, the first three full months

[00:32:44] he played in the Mariners uniform this year were terrible. They were, frankly, was just not good

[00:32:49] enough for what the Mariners needed. His second half was pretty good. A 158 WRC plus in the second

[00:32:56] half. Like that, that is remarkably good. That is what Julio Rodriguez is. Now it did help. There

[00:33:03] was some games taken out there in the middle because of injury. But besides that, it was great.

[00:33:11] Now let's get that for six months, five months, six months out of the year.

[00:33:15] He can't be buoyed by months. He just can't. You can't be that streaky of a player and then also be

[00:33:23] tabbed as a superstar. It just doesn't work. Randy Rosarena is really streaky. Now he's a good player.

[00:33:29] He's a very good player, in fact. But he's not labeled as a superstar. He's not tabbed as one of the

[00:33:35] games best. He's very good, but he's not in that category. Julio and the contract that is attached to

[00:33:42] his name says you are expected to be that. And while his second half was great, while you really turn

[00:33:49] things around, it wasn't for long enough. You just can't put up the numbers he put up in the first half

[00:33:59] every year. The Mariners can't have this happen every year where it takes him that long to get going.

[00:34:03] They paid him too much. They rely on him too much. And he means too much to the team and the

[00:34:08] offense for that to continue to go on. He's got to fix whatever it is that he needs to fix at the

[00:34:14] plate to make sure that this doesn't happen moving forward. Because it's back-to-back years. He's

[00:34:19] gotten off to prolonged slow starts. In his rookie year, he got off to a really bad April. Now he got

[00:34:24] screwed on a bunch of calls by umpires in that April of 2022. But then in May, he turned it around.

[00:34:29] Turned it around a lot faster. And once he did, he was a top five

[00:34:33] hitter in the league in 2022. By WRC+, he was a top five hitter in the league from May and on.

[00:34:39] And that has not happened in 23 or 24. Because his numbers in the first half, it wasn't bad

[00:34:44] for Julio Rodriguez standards. It's not as if he put up a 110 WRC+, in the first half.

[00:34:50] And people were sitting there saying, well, for most guys, that's perfectly good.

[00:34:54] For Julio, we need more. No, he was bad for any player in the first half of the year.

[00:34:58] It just wasn't cutting it.

[00:35:00] It was 86. So lower than what Mitch Garver put up for the whole season.

[00:35:04] That was his WRC+, in the first half.

[00:35:06] Not good enough.

[00:35:08] No.

[00:35:08] Just frankly.

[00:35:09] Like, here's the expectation I'll set for Julio for next year.

[00:35:13] Three months to start the season.

[00:35:16] Be over 100 WRC+, in all three of those months.

[00:35:19] Not 115, not 120, not 125.

[00:35:22] Over 100.

[00:35:23] He has yet to do that in his career, where he's over 100, three months in a row to start

[00:35:27] the year.

[00:35:28] And he has to do that.

[00:35:30] That's what he's paid to do.

[00:35:32] If you get off to a tough start, first couple weeks of the year, we know Seattle's cold during

[00:35:37] April.

[00:35:38] We know the ball doesn't travel.

[00:35:40] That can happen.

[00:35:42] But if it goes on for three months, it's a real problem.

[00:35:46] And again, this is why when you set Julio's expectations for 2025, it's hard for me to now

[00:35:55] sit here.

[00:35:56] And I'm guessing you're in the same boat.

[00:35:58] Actually, I know because we've talked about it off air.

[00:36:01] It's hard for us to sit here and say that we are confident he's going to be an MVP candidate

[00:36:06] and a 130 WRC+, hitter next year.

[00:36:10] He'll play great defense.

[00:36:11] He'll steal his bases.

[00:36:13] He'll probably be 2020 again.

[00:36:15] But when you're talking about total offensive production, the safe net feels like he's

[00:36:20] going to be about a 115 WRC+, hitter.

[00:36:24] That's not a bad player.

[00:36:25] We saw he just put up four wins this year.

[00:36:27] If he gets off to a better start, it could be more like closer to five.

[00:36:31] But am I confident in saying he's going to play like an MVP?

[00:36:34] I'm not.

[00:36:35] He just has not had enough prolonged superstar level production for us to say that.

[00:36:42] The other thing about this, too, is based on a lot of the messaging of the Mariners and

[00:36:47] potential offseason additions of making this offense better, of understanding that this

[00:36:52] past season offensively was a clear step back and it needs to get better.

[00:36:58] Well, if they don't feel like they're going to go outside the organization and add massive

[00:37:04] impact talent from the outside, the clear improvement needs to be from the guys currently on the

[00:37:10] roster.

[00:37:10] And who can improve the most on this roster offensively, Lyle?

[00:37:13] It's Julio.

[00:37:14] We said the same thing last year.

[00:37:16] I think we're regurgitating what we said last offseason.

[00:37:19] There is really no bigger addition than a full season of the peak of Julio Rodriguez, which

[00:37:25] we saw in 2022 can be just a difference maker for an offense.

[00:37:30] We didn't see that for the full season this year and it reflected on the offense's poor

[00:37:36] numbers.

[00:37:37] So if they're really not going to go out and they're not going to upgrade at third, they're

[00:37:40] not going to upgrade at first, they're not going to upgrade at second.

[00:37:43] They're not going to get another bat that can either DH or play in the outfield.

[00:37:47] Well, the improvement is going to have to come from number 44 then because in terms of what

[00:37:52] he's got ahead of him, they'll be 24 next year.

[00:37:55] We hope that whatever mistakes that he realized he made last offseason when it came to his swing

[00:38:00] mechanics and how he approached the offseason and how he showed up to spring training with

[00:38:05] his swing and what he knows feels good with him now.

[00:38:09] Hopefully some more communication with Edgar Martinez this offseason.

[00:38:12] I think we've figured out that the bond between those two is pretty good and the communication

[00:38:17] that Edgar provides to him is very effective.

[00:38:21] So if he can find a way to tie all that in and be more productive this offseason and bring

[00:38:27] himself to spring training next year ready to go from the start, I think we'll be just

[00:38:33] an enormous difference maker.

[00:38:35] But we're going to have to see it because the last two seasons where he has had major league

[00:38:40] offseasons, it's just been too slow at the start.

[00:38:43] Mm hmm.

[00:38:45] You know, TJ, I'm sitting here listening to you say if they don't sign a third baseman,

[00:38:50] if they don't sign a second baseman, if they don't sign a first baseman.

[00:38:53] I think you mean when because say it with me, let's harmonize it.

[00:38:58] Not not a smart strategy.

[00:39:02] Well, that was not in sync at all.

[00:39:03] We tried.

[00:39:04] But yes, the messaging is the same.

[00:39:06] Not a smart strategy.

[00:39:07] Do you know what was just puzzling about this year?

[00:39:11] I know T-Mobile Park was hard to hit in this year, but Julio had a 98 WRC Plus at home this

[00:39:18] year.

[00:39:19] Ninety eight.

[00:39:20] Can can can you can I remind the people that WRC Plus is park adjusted?

[00:39:25] So even taking into the fact that everybody sucked at T-Mobile Park this season, he was

[00:39:32] still below average when it came to the median outcome of the average hitter at T-Mobile Park

[00:39:38] this year.

[00:39:38] He was two percentage points below that puzzling.

[00:39:43] Absolutely puzzling because in his career, 124 WRC Plus last year in 2023.

[00:39:50] 162 is rookie year.

[00:39:52] Didn't seem to have a problem then.

[00:39:54] I think the OPS actually boldly highlights it better even than the WRC Plus.

[00:40:01] Six fifty five OPS at home.

[00:40:03] That's not park adjusted.

[00:40:05] Again, OPS doesn't take park factors into account.

[00:40:07] But if you just look at the pure production, six fifty five OPS at home and an eight oh five

[00:40:14] OPS on the road.

[00:40:15] And honestly, it's dragged out even a little further than that in the final month of 2023.

[00:40:20] 2023.

[00:40:22] Julio only had a 78 WRC Plus at home.

[00:40:25] So this is stretched out for a little while now.

[00:40:28] And this is now also going to be something to watch in 2025.

[00:40:32] We can talk about the batter's eye all we want.

[00:40:34] We can talk about the bad Seattle park factors all we want.

[00:40:38] But by the Mariners giving him that contract.

[00:40:42] They're saying not only do we expect you to be a superstar pretty much all year and not

[00:40:49] be buoyed by months, but we expect you to be a superstar both at home and on the road.

[00:40:54] We're not paying you to be Teoscar Hernandez.

[00:40:56] We're paying you to be Julio Rodriguez.

[00:40:58] So.

[00:41:00] I really hope that gets fixed in 2025, but it's now going to be a story to watch.

[00:41:04] And now yet all the more reason I'm wondering about this batter's eye and how close to look

[00:41:08] they're going to take this winter because you can't have the face of your franchise having

[00:41:12] this many problems hitting at home.

[00:41:14] You just can't do it.

[00:41:16] I agree.

[00:41:17] I was going to jump in there and say, let's just blame the batter's eye.

[00:41:20] It's very easy to do.

[00:41:22] So we'll see what the Mariners come up with this offseason for the batter's eye, whether

[00:41:27] or not they decide to change it or not.

[00:41:29] I think we'll reflect whether or not they believe it actually makes a difference.

[00:41:33] So I think they'll, I think they will source some input on that.

[00:41:36] And it seems to hamper right-handed hitters more than left-handed hitters.

[00:41:40] At least that's the early takeaway.

[00:41:41] So I would be fascinated if the Mariners did something this offseason, they probably wouldn't

[00:41:48] promote it publicly, but considering these guys all still have houses here, even if they're

[00:41:54] not living here, if they would pay for Julio's flight out to Seattle for a couple of days

[00:42:00] for a Cal Raleigh flight out to Seattle for a couple of days to stand in the right side

[00:42:04] of the batter's box for a Randy Rosarena flight to Seattle for a couple of days and say, stand

[00:42:10] in this box.

[00:42:12] Is this a problem?

[00:42:15] Is like, like, and if so, what is it?

[00:42:17] Like just, you're not in the middle of an at-bat.

[00:42:20] You don't have to think about anything else.

[00:42:21] Stare out and look at it.

[00:42:23] What is the issue?

[00:42:24] Does the mound feel slanted based on looking at the batter's eye?

[00:42:27] Is it hard to pick up the baseball with that batter's eye being slanted?

[00:42:30] Get the guys that are most meaningful to your offense, especially the ones that hit from

[00:42:34] the right side and get their take on it because there's nobody whose opinions on it are more

[00:42:40] important than theirs.

[00:42:41] They're going to be the ones that are hitting and they're going to be the ones that need

[00:42:43] to hit well for you.

[00:42:45] So I have two more things.

[00:42:47] Number one, do either of us know what's best for Julio Rodriguez to change this offseason?

[00:42:53] No.

[00:42:53] Like I listed off a couple ideas of what could potentially change for him, where he trains,

[00:43:00] who he trains with, how much media he decides to do this offseason.

[00:43:05] I don't know if he maybe changes his diet.

[00:43:08] I have to be honest.

[00:43:08] Again, I have no idea.

[00:43:09] Yeah.

[00:43:10] Like those are just a couple of ideas of what could potentially change this offseason.

[00:43:14] If you want to know, you probably should just follow Julio on Instagram and you can figure

[00:43:17] out if he changes something or not.

[00:43:19] But among things big leaguers can change, it's like workload, trainer, and location for the

[00:43:27] most part.

[00:43:28] Diet is depending on the person, but Julio is going to be 23 going into 24.

[00:43:32] He could probably eat whatever he wants and stay in great shape because that's just usually

[00:43:36] how the human body rolls.

[00:43:37] The last thing in the most simplistic terms, this dude needs to find a way to hit more doubles

[00:43:43] next year.

[00:43:44] How does a guy who is that fast only hit 17 doubles in nearly 600 plate appearances?

[00:43:52] That almost should not happen.

[00:43:54] More home runs than doubles for a guy that fast who hits the ball on the ground as much as he

[00:44:00] does should not happen.

[00:44:03] He went like two months this year, Lyle, without hitting a double, right?

[00:44:07] It was like from late April into June where he didn't hit a double.

[00:44:12] I'm looking at his splits right now because once you brought up the doubles, I was curious

[00:44:16] what it looked like by month.

[00:44:18] Through June, he had six doubles to his name.

[00:44:22] In the month of June, he had one double.

[00:44:25] One.

[00:44:26] And he wasn't hurt in June.

[00:44:28] He played 26 games.

[00:44:30] Just did not hit the ball in the gap.

[00:44:33] Right.

[00:44:33] Or at least for the most part in June.

[00:44:35] I'm trying to remember if that injury happened right at the end of June or if it was early

[00:44:38] July.

[00:44:38] It was one of the others.

[00:44:39] It was July.

[00:44:40] It was July.

[00:44:40] Point being, he played most of June.

[00:44:42] He had one double.

[00:44:43] And he had six total through the first three months.

[00:44:45] We talked about it a lot earlier in the year.

[00:44:48] And it is the case.

[00:44:49] He has to lift the ball more.

[00:44:51] Now, some of that will lead to home runs.

[00:44:53] But he just has to lift it, period.

[00:44:56] He's got to hit line drives.

[00:44:57] He was hitting the ball really hard.

[00:44:58] His savant page reflects that.

[00:45:01] But he was hitting everything on the ground.

[00:45:02] He's got to get the ball off the ground.

[00:45:04] Part of that is he's just going to have to stay balanced.

[00:45:07] That was clear to anybody watching the games the first half of the year.

[00:45:09] He was not balanced.

[00:45:11] He was way off balance.

[00:45:12] He was falling out of the batter's box.

[00:45:15] I think that's going to have to be something that he...

[00:45:18] Again, we can't pinpoint everything that Julio Rodriguez is going to have to do this offseason.

[00:45:23] We don't know.

[00:45:24] We're just sitting here talking about it.

[00:45:26] But the one thing that we can at least feel fairly confident about from anybody who can just sit and watch games...

[00:45:32] Wasn't balanced.

[00:45:33] He's got to be balanced.

[00:45:34] Has to be.

[00:45:35] He's going to be a significantly more productive player if he just wants to stay in the 20-30 to probably peak 35 home run range.

[00:45:43] If he's sitting 40 doubles.

[00:45:45] Perfectly fine.

[00:45:45] Like that's a very...

[00:45:47] That's an excellent offensive player.

[00:45:50] 17's not cutting it.

[00:45:51] 17 for somebody with his speed is just like no.

[00:45:55] Uh-uh.

[00:45:57] And Lyle, he made plenty of contact this year.

[00:46:00] We're just going to go even more basic batting average.

[00:46:03] He made enough contact.

[00:46:04] Just wasn't for any damage.

[00:46:06] Not enough.

[00:46:07] And he still needs to cut down that strikeout rate.

[00:46:10] He made more contact, but he's still got to strike out less.

[00:46:12] Yeah.

[00:46:13] 100%.

[00:46:15] Okay.

[00:46:15] Left field.

[00:46:16] This will be more positive.

[00:46:18] Let's start with Randy Orozarena.

[00:46:20] Obviously got here.

[00:46:21] End of July.

[00:46:22] Through the trade deadline.

[00:46:23] It was the headline move of the deadline for the Mariners.

[00:46:26] What was your grade in a shortened Randy Orozarena Mariners season?

[00:46:31] He gets a B for me.

[00:46:33] Okay.

[00:46:34] I gave him a B+.

[00:46:38] Offense was good.

[00:46:39] 122 WRC+.

[00:46:41] They'll have him for two more years if they decide to pay his contract for two more years.

[00:46:46] So, yeah.

[00:46:47] It sounds like, honestly, for what they were trading for.

[00:46:50] Offensive production.

[00:46:51] And multiple years of control.

[00:46:53] They got it from him.

[00:46:55] They got it.

[00:46:55] Both of those from him.

[00:46:57] Strikes struck out a little bit too much.

[00:46:59] Walked at a decent clip.

[00:47:00] Didn't have a problem getting on base.

[00:47:02] 356 on base percentage as a Mariner.

[00:47:05] Was worth about one win.

[00:47:07] He's just not adding much value besides his bat.

[00:47:11] It's not on the base paths.

[00:47:14] And it's definitely not in the field.

[00:47:16] While he's nearing DH territory in the field.

[00:47:21] Yeah.

[00:47:22] Not a good defender.

[00:47:23] That's not what they traded him.

[00:47:25] That's not what they traded to get him for.

[00:47:28] But, doesn't mean you can't just not play defense.

[00:47:30] Yeah, his defense is going to have to get a lot better.

[00:47:32] But it's not.

[00:47:33] He's not old and he's not slow.

[00:47:35] So, why is he so bad in the outfield?

[00:47:37] Oh, well, usually that comes back to just instincts.

[00:47:41] And route running, jumps, etc.

[00:47:45] It's not good enough defense.

[00:47:46] There's no doubt about that.

[00:47:47] The reason I think I gave him.

[00:47:49] Or not, I think.

[00:47:50] The reason I did give him a B plus.

[00:47:52] Is because they just needed an injection of life so badly on offense.

[00:47:55] And they needed more guys that, while nobody has the Julio upside on this roster.

[00:48:01] They needed more guys that could be the Robin to Julio's Batman.

[00:48:06] Randy is much closer to that.

[00:48:09] Now, again, like we said earlier in the show.

[00:48:12] He is not one of the game's upper echelon players.

[00:48:15] He's just not that.

[00:48:16] I'm not even talking about Judge or Shohei.

[00:48:18] Those two are in a category on their own.

[00:48:20] I'm talking about some of the other superstars across the game.

[00:48:24] Especially some of the ones that play outfield.

[00:48:26] He's just not that guy.

[00:48:27] Either offensively or defensively.

[00:48:29] Is he a really good player?

[00:48:31] Who's going to make some all-star games in his career?

[00:48:33] Absolutely.

[00:48:33] He already has.

[00:48:35] And that's part of the reason that I gave him a higher grade.

[00:48:38] Because his offense was good.

[00:48:39] And the biggest storyline around the Mariners team in 2024 was not defense.

[00:48:45] Defense can always get better.

[00:48:46] It was how abysmal the offense looked pre-trade deadline.

[00:48:50] And Randy did help turn a lot of that around.

[00:48:52] So I'm going to give him a B+.

[00:48:55] He helped turn it around.

[00:48:56] Absolutely.

[00:48:58] But his type of play style.

[00:49:01] Especially of how he is at the plate.

[00:49:02] You mentioned how streaky he is.

[00:49:05] Plays into a lot of the hot, cold factor of this lineup.

[00:49:08] Really.

[00:49:09] The consistency of the lineup mostly stemmed from...

[00:49:13] Victor Robles had one real cold spell.

[00:49:15] But otherwise, he was pretty consistent.

[00:49:17] Julio was really cold.

[00:49:19] And then really hot.

[00:49:20] Luke Raley was really who we'll get to.

[00:49:22] Really up and down.

[00:49:23] Like he had his hot streaks.

[00:49:24] He had his cold streaks.

[00:49:25] And that comes when you swing and miss so much.

[00:49:28] Because you're either getting the ball in the barrel.

[00:49:30] Or you're missing it altogether.

[00:49:31] Which is the ultimate boom or bust.

[00:49:33] And that's really how Randy's season went.

[00:49:35] We detailed it when the Mariners traded for him.

[00:49:37] He couldn't have gotten off to a slower start this year.

[00:49:40] He had a 36 WRC Plus in April.

[00:49:43] And then the bell curve went up.

[00:49:45] 104, 164, 166.

[00:49:48] And then he gets to the Mariners.

[00:49:49] It's 128 in August.

[00:49:50] And 107 in September.

[00:49:52] So it went like this.

[00:49:55] You'd like it to sort of go like this.

[00:49:57] Or just stay like this the whole time.

[00:49:59] Watch on YouTube so you can see what I'm doing with my right hand right here.

[00:50:01] Of what the kind of consistency that would help the Mariners.

[00:50:06] And have Randy get his strikeout rate down hopefully.

[00:50:10] He is in his offensive prime.

[00:50:12] So asking him to cut down his strikeouts isn't impossible.

[00:50:16] He got a little more selective as he's gotten older.

[00:50:19] But I don't think that's a reason for your whiff rate to really accelerate through the roof.

[00:50:26] The last thing I'll add here.

[00:50:28] Is that you know despite all these flaws in his game.

[00:50:33] The Mariners hit a home run when they acquired him.

[00:50:35] They needed to acquire him.

[00:50:37] And they went out.

[00:50:38] They jumped the market.

[00:50:39] And they got him for a very reasonable package.

[00:50:41] And that's what they needed.

[00:50:42] And hopefully for the next two years until he hits free agency.

[00:50:45] He's here in a Mariners uniform.

[00:50:47] Because this roster is significantly better with him on it.

[00:50:50] Than with him off of it.

[00:50:53] Don't trade him.

[00:50:55] Please.

[00:50:55] It's going to be quite the off season if they do.

[00:50:57] Especially on this podcast.

[00:50:59] No.

[00:51:00] You cannot trade him.

[00:51:02] I will also say.

[00:51:05] That when Randy gets hot.

[00:51:08] He can get as hot as anybody in baseball.

[00:51:10] When he gets hot.

[00:51:11] That's what it looks like.

[00:51:11] He can be an aircraft carrier for parts of time.

[00:51:15] He doesn't usually do it throughout a whole year.

[00:51:17] But he can do it for periods of time.

[00:51:19] And if Randy was closer to a 135, 140 WRC plus hitter.

[00:51:24] And a five win player.

[00:51:25] Then we might start grading him more like in the A range.

[00:51:28] I would say both of us still have him graded on a little bit of a star curve.

[00:51:31] Again, he's not one of the game's elites.

[00:51:33] But he is an all-star.

[00:51:34] He's a very, very good player.

[00:51:36] He was a headline move when they acquired him.

[00:51:39] So yeah.

[00:51:39] He's just not quite that.

[00:51:41] But if you're going to be a 120 WRC plus hitter every year.

[00:51:44] And be a 20 homer guy.

[00:51:45] The Mariners need that.

[00:51:47] Very, very bad.

[00:51:48] And they need him on this roster very, very badly.

[00:51:51] So trade was a win.

[00:51:52] You didn't give up that much.

[00:51:54] And by the way, for those who didn't see.

[00:51:57] The player to be named later finally got announced.

[00:51:59] It was Ty Cummings.

[00:52:00] That's the final guy who went back to Tampa in the trade.

[00:52:03] So now that makes it full.

[00:52:04] The trade was.

[00:52:05] The Rays got back.

[00:52:06] Aiden Smith.

[00:52:07] Brody Hopkins.

[00:52:08] And Ty Cummings.

[00:52:09] So.

[00:52:10] Randy needs to be here.

[00:52:12] Do not even think about shipping that guy out of town.

[00:52:16] Because when he's here, this team ceiling is a lot higher.

[00:52:21] Is Randy the third best hitter, would you say?

[00:52:23] Like in a good lineup.

[00:52:26] Good or elite?

[00:52:27] Like the Yankees or the.

[00:52:30] I don't know.

[00:52:31] Is there an elite lineup this year?

[00:52:33] I don't think so.

[00:52:36] Yeah, I guess Randy would probably be the third best hitter in the Yankees lineup.

[00:52:39] Behind Soto and Judge.

[00:52:40] Right.

[00:52:41] Well, since the Mariners acquired him on August 20.

[00:52:44] Or sorry, July 27th.

[00:52:46] He was the fifth best hitter in the Mariners lineup.

[00:52:48] Just to know.

[00:52:49] Right.

[00:52:50] Fifth best in the Mariners lineup.

[00:52:52] From the time he was acquired.

[00:52:54] Still productive.

[00:52:55] But.

[00:52:56] Not.

[00:52:57] Like.

[00:52:57] Out.

[00:52:58] Just.

[00:52:58] The fifth best.

[00:53:00] Right.

[00:53:00] And part of that was how hot both Julio and Raley and Robles were.

[00:53:05] But.

[00:53:06] Yes.

[00:53:07] They need Randy to have more months like he did.

[00:53:11] Before he got here in the trade.

[00:53:12] Not early on when he was really struggling.

[00:53:14] But some of the stuff he was doing in May, June, July.

[00:53:17] They need more of that.

[00:53:18] Now they only had him for two months.

[00:53:19] And we talked about how tough of an adjustment that probably was for Randy.

[00:53:22] And I don't think that can be overstated.

[00:53:24] You move as far away from home as possible.

[00:53:26] All the way across the country.

[00:53:29] Did he even find a place to live in the two months?

[00:53:33] If you're going to get traded over here at the deadline.

[00:53:35] And you're only going to be in town for two months before the season ends.

[00:53:38] And half of that you're on the road.

[00:53:40] A lot of guys probably just wait till the offseason to find a permanent place.

[00:53:45] So that's probably hard too.

[00:53:47] We don't know if Randy did that for sure or not.

[00:53:49] But it's possible.

[00:53:50] So.

[00:53:51] And his family wasn't here.

[00:53:52] Right.

[00:53:53] All that stuff is pretty hard.

[00:53:54] And especially when you factor in an organization that he really did love in Tampa.

[00:53:58] And he was with for the majority of his big league career.

[00:54:01] So.

[00:54:02] Yeah.

[00:54:03] They need more from him in 2025.

[00:54:05] He was still good in 24.

[00:54:08] But.

[00:54:08] They could use a little bit more.

[00:54:10] And if he could be slightly better on defense.

[00:54:12] That'd be awesome.

[00:54:13] Oh.

[00:54:14] Actually one more thing.

[00:54:15] He oddly didn't hit fastballs this year.

[00:54:18] That needs to change.

[00:54:20] He hit 173 against.

[00:54:21] Yeah.

[00:54:22] He hit 173 against fastballs.

[00:54:23] Now.

[00:54:24] You could look at that glass half full.

[00:54:26] And say.

[00:54:26] In spite of all that.

[00:54:27] He was still productive.

[00:54:29] And still gave the Mariners a lot of juice when he got here.

[00:54:31] And post April still had a really nice season.

[00:54:34] But he's got to hit fastballs.

[00:54:36] He had a negative 22 run value drop off against that pitch.

[00:54:41] So weird.

[00:54:42] That's enormous.

[00:54:43] I mean that is legitimate.

[00:54:44] MMA from good to bad.

[00:54:45] Or elite to average.

[00:54:47] Or like all of that.

[00:54:48] Like that's the difference there.

[00:54:49] That's.

[00:54:50] That's a remarkable.

[00:54:52] Remarkable drop off.

[00:54:54] And I'm going to keep reiterating.

[00:54:55] Like he's in his.

[00:54:56] Athletic prime.

[00:54:58] It shouldn't be.

[00:54:59] Bat speed shouldn't be a problem.

[00:55:00] Athleticism shouldn't be a problem at this point.

[00:55:03] No.

[00:55:03] So.

[00:55:04] It's kind of.

[00:55:04] That's kind of puzzling.

[00:55:05] If he was 32.

[00:55:06] That'd be a little bit of a different story.

[00:55:08] More of a red flag to be honest.

[00:55:09] But.

[00:55:10] We'll hope he gets.

[00:55:11] He gets back to that next year.

[00:55:12] This was really just kind of an odd year for him.

[00:55:14] He.

[00:55:14] He'd been a little bit more.

[00:55:16] You know.

[00:55:17] Wall to wall consistent.

[00:55:18] In his past years.

[00:55:20] With the Tampa Bay Rays.

[00:55:21] This year.

[00:55:22] Not so much.

[00:55:23] We're hoping it gets back a little bit more.

[00:55:24] To like last year.

[00:55:25] Like his 2021 season.

[00:55:27] For the 2025 version of the Mariners.

[00:55:29] And I'm sure they'll be.

[00:55:30] A lot happier because of it.

[00:55:32] What's your grade for Luke Raley?

[00:55:35] A minus.

[00:55:36] How about you?

[00:55:37] Give him a B plus.

[00:55:39] In the same ballpark.

[00:55:40] I mean.

[00:55:41] Talk about a win.

[00:55:42] An off.

[00:55:43] A rare off season win.

[00:55:44] From last year.

[00:55:45] For the Seattle Mariners.

[00:55:46] That was Luke Raley.

[00:55:48] Just want to think about.

[00:55:49] I have a fun comparison for you.

[00:55:51] If we look back to the Luke Raley trade.

[00:55:54] And who wins in these certain statistical categories.

[00:55:57] When you look between.

[00:55:59] What the Rays got from Jose Caballero.

[00:56:01] And the Mariners got from Luke Raley.

[00:56:04] WRC plus.

[00:56:05] Raley had a better WRC plus.

[00:56:07] F4.

[00:56:07] It was Raley.

[00:56:08] Walk rate.

[00:56:10] Yeah.

[00:56:10] Walk rate.

[00:56:11] Raley doesn't walk that much.

[00:56:12] But it was still Luke Raley.

[00:56:15] Batting average.

[00:56:16] Raley.

[00:56:16] On base.

[00:56:17] Raley.

[00:56:17] Slugging.

[00:56:17] Raley.

[00:56:19] Need.

[00:56:20] Yeah.

[00:56:20] The Mariners really needed.

[00:56:22] Luke Raley.

[00:56:23] A lot more than they needed.

[00:56:24] Jose Caballero.

[00:56:25] That's for sure.

[00:56:26] If Jose Caballero.

[00:56:27] Was on this Mariners.

[00:56:28] He probably wouldn't have lasted the season.

[00:56:29] On the Mariners roster.

[00:56:30] Gonna be honest.

[00:56:33] The one trade.

[00:56:34] They won.

[00:56:35] All off season.

[00:56:36] Their one win of a trade.

[00:56:38] Because.

[00:56:38] Polanco obviously didn't work out the way they wanted.

[00:56:41] Hanager definitely didn't work out.

[00:56:42] Like we talked about.

[00:56:44] Who are the other trades?

[00:56:45] Why am I blanking on it all of a sudden?

[00:56:47] Maybe those big ones.

[00:56:48] Yeah.

[00:56:49] And then.

[00:56:49] Well.

[00:56:49] And then the Garver signing.

[00:56:50] Obviously didn't work out.

[00:56:51] We'll get to him in a minute.

[00:56:52] What's funny is the Raley trade was the second biggest trade of that day.

[00:56:56] Mm-hmm.

[00:56:58] Right.

[00:56:58] Because that was the day they traded Robbie Ray for Mitch Hanager.

[00:57:01] Yep.

[00:57:03] That was the day that I was flying to New York when I went and spent a couple months in New York last winter.

[00:57:09] And.

[00:57:09] I was like are you serious?

[00:57:11] This happens as I'm on the plane.

[00:57:13] So what do I do?

[00:57:14] Long day of travel.

[00:57:17] Get to see my.

[00:57:18] You know.

[00:57:18] Get to my family's place.

[00:57:20] Figure I'd just spend time with them.

[00:57:22] But.

[00:57:22] When a big news day goes down.

[00:57:24] We're podcasting about it.

[00:57:25] So as soon as I got off the plane.

[00:57:27] Got to my.

[00:57:28] Family's.

[00:57:29] Place.

[00:57:31] I said well.

[00:57:32] We're going to podcast.

[00:57:35] The Raley trade was a Jerry win.

[00:57:38] This is where his.

[00:57:39] This is where his major league talent evaluation is in the positive.

[00:57:44] It's in the green.

[00:57:44] Because Luke Raley.

[00:57:46] He sort of embodied what this Mariners lineups major flaws were this year.

[00:57:51] Swung and missed a lot.

[00:57:52] Struck out a lot.

[00:57:54] Mariners lineup did walk.

[00:57:55] He did not.

[00:57:56] Had a 129 WRC plus.

[00:57:58] It was a lot of boom or bust.

[00:58:00] It was a very.

[00:58:02] Very streaky year for.

[00:58:04] For Luke Raley.

[00:58:05] He didn't get off to the hottest start.

[00:58:07] Lyle.

[00:58:07] 46.

[00:58:09] 46 WRC plus in April.

[00:58:11] And he goes 142.

[00:58:12] 146.

[00:58:13] Down to 57 in July.

[00:58:15] And then 182.

[00:58:16] 179.

[00:58:16] The final two months of the season.

[00:58:18] So he was either like in the sun or he was out on like Neptune.

[00:58:25] I think we just have to accept that this is who Luke Raley is as a player.

[00:58:30] I think that's just who he is.

[00:58:32] Because he was like that at times in Tampa too.

[00:58:35] Ultimately.

[00:58:37] In good years for him.

[00:58:38] He will put up his production.

[00:58:40] It just doesn't always come that consistently.

[00:58:42] He has some really hot months and some extremely cold months.

[00:58:47] That's what we saw this year.

[00:58:48] Two really cold months.

[00:58:50] And four great months.

[00:58:51] Just like in Tampa.

[00:58:53] How last year in Tampa his first half was awesome.

[00:58:55] Second half wasn't great.

[00:58:57] I think this is just who he is.

[00:58:59] Now it's still an.

[00:59:01] It's still a productive player.

[00:59:02] He's still a very valuable player.

[00:59:04] The trade was still absolutely a win.

[00:59:06] There are just certain months throughout the year.

[00:59:09] Where he might drive you a little bit crazy than others.

[00:59:11] Because he's in a really tough stretch.

[00:59:14] And then he works his way out of it.

[00:59:16] But let me present this to you.

[00:59:18] And let me present this to our listeners this way.

[00:59:20] Did you know there was actually a Mariner this season.

[00:59:24] Who led Major League Baseball in a category.

[00:59:26] Did you know that?

[00:59:28] Luke Raley.

[00:59:30] Had the highest slugging percentage against fastballs.

[00:59:33] Of any hitter in baseball.

[00:59:36] Yeah Aaron Judge.

[00:59:37] Scrub.

[00:59:39] Juan Soto.

[00:59:40] Scrub.

[00:59:42] Shohei Otani.

[00:59:43] Scrub.

[00:59:45] But Luke Raley.

[00:59:46] Not a scrub.

[00:59:48] No.

[00:59:49] That's what we call a.

[00:59:50] Boom.

[00:59:53] Good call on that.

[00:59:56] Well he had a 159 in the second half.

[00:59:58] In terms of his WRC+.

[01:00:00] I would say that gets a boom.

[01:00:02] 159.

[01:00:03] Him and Victor Robles at one point.

[01:00:05] Toward the tail end of the year.

[01:00:08] Were top two in baseball.

[01:00:12] In WRC+.

[01:00:13] I mean it was in a certain time period.

[01:00:16] Peter tweeted it out.

[01:00:17] Peter Apple.

[01:00:18] You know our friend over at Just Baseball.

[01:00:20] It was over a.

[01:00:21] Maybe it was since August 1st.

[01:00:22] And it was toward the end of September when he tweeted it out.

[01:00:25] But point being.

[01:00:26] Over a real stretch of time.

[01:00:27] The top two guys.

[01:00:29] Or they were in the top three.

[01:00:30] Was Luke Raley and Victor Robles.

[01:00:32] Luke Raley at a 159 WRC+.

[01:00:34] In the second half.

[01:00:35] That is a very valuable player.

[01:00:37] Now.

[01:00:38] He is still basically a platoon guy.

[01:00:41] But that's okay.

[01:00:43] If Luke Raley is going to play against right handed pitching.

[01:00:45] That is perfectly fine.

[01:00:46] And on days where there's a lefty on the mound.

[01:00:49] He starts on the bench.

[01:00:51] You bring him in late to pinch hit.

[01:00:52] Can play defense if you need him to.

[01:00:54] Whether it's in the outfield.

[01:00:55] Whether it's at first base.

[01:00:57] That's a perfectly good role.

[01:00:59] That he can play on a team.

[01:01:00] And a very valuable one.

[01:01:01] Especially because you see more righties than you do lefties.

[01:01:03] For the most part.

[01:01:05] We don't want all platoons.

[01:01:06] But a couple are okay.

[01:01:08] Especially when you're as productive as Luke Raley was in 2024.

[01:01:12] So he's a platoon bat.

[01:01:13] But a really good one.

[01:01:14] And that's fine.

[01:01:18] You also can think about Luke Raley in this perspective too.

[01:01:21] So he had to play center a little bit.

[01:01:23] He had to play first a little bit.

[01:01:25] Because the Mariners either had injuries.

[01:01:27] Or they needed to spell days off for those positions.

[01:01:29] And it was Luke Raley.

[01:01:31] And Victor Robles a little bit.

[01:01:32] Who ended up filling in in those positions.

[01:01:35] We envision that Raley would be the backup center fielder.

[01:01:38] He again just like.

[01:01:40] Even though he's fast.

[01:01:41] He's a very awkward runner.

[01:01:43] It's not very fluid.

[01:01:44] So watching him out there is an interesting experiment.

[01:01:47] Whether in center or at first base.

[01:01:50] But where are the Mariners if that doesn't happen?

[01:01:52] And that doesn't even include.

[01:01:53] If you just want to regurgitate the list of Victor Robles.

[01:01:56] Of what happens if he's not playing the corner outfield spot this year.

[01:01:59] Like an under the radar signing.

[01:02:01] Or under the radar trade.

[01:02:03] Comes out to be a really integral part of.

[01:02:05] You know what the Mariners do with the corner outfield spot.

[01:02:09] As opposed.

[01:02:11] Alongside.

[01:02:12] Now maybe even their 2025.

[01:02:13] Part time first baseman.

[01:02:15] Because their idea at first base.

[01:02:17] Didn't work out.

[01:02:18] And they had to get rid of Ty France.

[01:02:21] Here is what the Mariners should do.

[01:02:24] Hopefully people listening to the Marine Layer pod.

[01:02:26] Include people in that organization.

[01:02:27] And take our advice.

[01:02:29] Julio plays center.

[01:02:31] Robles plays right.

[01:02:33] And between Randy.

[01:02:34] And Raley.

[01:02:36] One is in left field.

[01:02:39] One DH is.

[01:02:40] Except.

[01:02:41] When there's a lefty on the mound.

[01:02:43] So say when there's a righty on the mound.

[01:02:46] You can flip flop him.

[01:02:47] If you want to get the days off certain guys feet.

[01:02:49] That's fine.

[01:02:50] One's in left.

[01:02:51] One DH is between Randy or Raley.

[01:02:53] When there's a lefty on the mound.

[01:02:55] Raley sits.

[01:02:56] Randy's in left.

[01:02:58] Garver DHs.

[01:02:59] And just hits the lefties.

[01:03:00] And then you go.

[01:03:02] Get.

[01:03:02] A real.

[01:03:04] First.

[01:03:04] Baseman.

[01:03:06] Don't platoon at first base.

[01:03:09] Maybe the most premier offensive position.

[01:03:11] In baseball.

[01:03:12] Do that.

[01:03:13] What I just suggested.

[01:03:15] And you can send me my check in the mail.

[01:03:17] At a time later.

[01:03:19] To be determined.

[01:03:21] Can I say.

[01:03:22] Should I say the line.

[01:03:23] Or we already said it.

[01:03:24] No.

[01:03:24] Let's do it again.

[01:03:25] There's.

[01:03:25] You know what.

[01:03:26] Not.

[01:03:27] It's not a smart strategy.

[01:03:29] No.

[01:03:30] This offseason's taught us.

[01:03:32] That.

[01:03:33] There's never too many times.

[01:03:35] That we can say that line here on the pod.

[01:03:36] This offseason.

[01:03:37] Not.

[01:03:37] A smart.

[01:03:39] Strategy.

[01:03:40] Okay.

[01:03:41] Let's get to our last guy here.

[01:03:42] Lyle.

[01:03:43] Mitch Garver.

[01:03:47] I gave Mitch Garver a D.

[01:03:48] For 2024.

[01:03:49] How about you?

[01:03:50] So did I.

[01:03:51] There are a couple things he did well.

[01:03:54] Pretty well documented.

[01:03:55] He hit lefties.

[01:03:56] He had a 124 WRC plus.

[01:03:58] Against right-handed hitters.

[01:03:59] Walked a lot.

[01:04:01] Over 12%.

[01:04:01] That's in the top 5 percentile of the league.

[01:04:04] He didn't go on the I.L.

[01:04:06] At all this year.

[01:04:07] So he actually stayed present.

[01:04:09] And on the field.

[01:04:10] Even if he wasn't always playing.

[01:04:12] Which is a win.

[01:04:14] And he actually did some good things for George Kirby behind the plate.

[01:04:17] That was talked about.

[01:04:18] Kirby and Garver worked really well together.

[01:04:21] But.

[01:04:22] When you were signed to be the headline free agent signing of the offseason.

[01:04:26] You were the only free agent signing of the offseason.

[01:04:28] Because.

[01:04:29] It's not a smart strategy.

[01:04:30] It's not a smart strategy.

[01:04:31] It's not a smart strategy.

[01:04:32] To sign good free agents.

[01:04:34] Can't forget that.

[01:04:35] We got.

[01:04:35] We're just pushing the organization's narrative for everybody.

[01:04:38] Let's remember.

[01:04:39] We're doing.

[01:04:39] We're doing them a favor.

[01:04:41] We're trying to spread the word.

[01:04:42] That it's not a smart strategy.

[01:04:43] Anyway.

[01:04:45] Mitch Garver didn't live up to that.

[01:04:47] He just didn't.

[01:04:48] They needed him to be arguably the second best bat in the lineup.

[01:04:51] When we talked to Jason Churchill earlier in the year.

[01:04:53] He said he thought the second best bat in the lineup.

[01:04:55] Was going to be Mitch Garver.

[01:04:57] I had the same thought.

[01:04:58] He wasn't.

[01:04:59] He didn't really get close.

[01:05:01] It was a disappointing year.

[01:05:03] You know what's the one thing we can look forward to?

[01:05:05] To Mitch Garver's 2025?

[01:05:08] He's an every other year guy.

[01:05:11] That's true.

[01:05:11] One year he'll be bad.

[01:05:12] Next year he'll be great.

[01:05:14] Let's fill in some context for people who are unaware of this still.

[01:05:17] So Mitch Garver.

[01:05:18] If you date back to 2018.

[01:05:20] Which is his first full season.

[01:05:22] We'll go hot year, cold year, hot year, cold year, hot year, cold year.

[01:05:26] It's literally down to the pinpoint.

[01:05:28] This year, 2024 and 88 WRC+.

[01:05:31] Last year with the Rangers, well documented.

[01:05:33] And the reason he had plenty of hype coming into this season.

[01:05:36] He had a 140 WRC+.

[01:05:37] He had a 100 in 2022.

[01:05:40] He had a 139 in 2021.

[01:05:42] He had a 43 in 2020.

[01:05:44] He had a 159 in 2018.

[01:05:47] And he had a 104 in 2018.

[01:05:49] It's exact.

[01:05:51] It is an exact science of Mitch Garver.

[01:05:53] I think we could just book him as the starting DH in the American League next year's all-star game in Atlanta.

[01:05:58] No.

[01:05:59] I'm going to proclaim that right now.

[01:06:02] And he's putting up a 140 WRC+.

[01:06:04] I'm down.

[01:06:05] But only after probably the Mariners ship him off somewhere.

[01:06:09] Because he can't have good things.

[01:06:12] Well, that's true.

[01:06:13] Yeah.

[01:06:14] I don't know if he's going to be off this roster in 25.

[01:06:16] In fact, I'll go a step further.

[01:06:17] I'm joking.

[01:06:18] I was going to say.

[01:06:19] I'm joking.

[01:06:20] He's going to be here.

[01:06:21] He is much more likely to be here than Hanager.

[01:06:25] Because you still need a backup catcher.

[01:06:28] And if you have a backup catcher that still does have offensive upside like Garver does.

[01:06:32] Whether he taps into it or not next year is to be seen.

[01:06:35] But he has it.

[01:06:37] And you need somebody on the roster as a second catcher.

[01:06:40] And like we said.

[01:06:40] Him and Kirby actually worked well together this year.

[01:06:43] So that's why he's more likely to stay.

[01:06:46] Because he'll be the second catcher.

[01:06:47] He can hit lefties.

[01:06:48] Again, if they use my strategy.

[01:06:50] He can just DH against lefties.

[01:06:52] And then you'll get a real first baseman.

[01:06:54] But there is still a role for him to be played.

[01:06:57] It's just that the role he was expected to play when he got here.

[01:07:01] Looks a lot different now than what the expectation was in the preseason.

[01:07:05] Because he was expected to be a real difference maker in the lineup.

[01:07:08] Unfortunately, he wasn't.

[01:07:10] There's a few extremely puzzling things about Garver's season.

[01:07:13] One, seeing the swing and miss tick up so much in just one season.

[01:07:19] Was alarming for Mitch Garver.

[01:07:22] That's another guy you have to legitimately ask about the batter's eye.

[01:07:24] Like you have to ask if that was an issue.

[01:07:28] Besides just coming to Seattle and being in a new environment.

[01:07:32] Like at that point.

[01:07:33] Because how else are you going to explain?

[01:07:34] Like guys don't just fall off a cliff like this unless they're just washed.

[01:07:39] I don't know if Mitch Garver has washed it.

[01:07:41] You need more than one season to say if he is washed.

[01:07:43] But it wasn't good last year.

[01:07:46] So the strikeout rate goes from 24 to 31%.

[01:07:49] He had by far a career worst year against breaking balls.

[01:07:52] More specifically sliders from right handers.

[01:07:54] They just ate him up.

[01:07:55] He had a 41% strikeout rate against that.

[01:07:58] Almost a free out against righties and against sliders.

[01:08:04] It's just not like it's almost unplayable against right handers what he did this year.

[01:08:08] So it's resulted him to a platoon backup catcher against lefties.

[01:08:15] Unless he proves otherwise.

[01:08:17] He's hit righties in the past.

[01:08:19] But this year was not even close.

[01:08:23] Not even close.

[01:08:23] All in a year as you mentioned at the beginning that he was the healthiest he's ever been.

[01:08:28] Like what are the odds?

[01:08:29] You get the only healthy season of his career.

[01:08:32] And he just so happens to have the worst offensive season of his career.

[01:08:35] In a number of different categories.

[01:08:39] What was up with his expected batting average?

[01:08:41] He was in the first percentile.

[01:08:43] First percentile on expected batting average.

[01:08:45] It was 181.

[01:08:46] We already talked about his strikeout rate which he struck out way too much.

[01:08:50] But he wasn't.

[01:08:52] He just simply wasn't getting hits.

[01:08:54] And his quality of contact just wasn't that great.

[01:08:58] And speaking of quality of contact.

[01:09:00] When you look at all his savant bubbles and the changes from year to year.

[01:09:03] Compared to what he did in Texas last year.

[01:09:05] And in Seattle this year.

[01:09:06] There were some big drop offs in some categories.

[01:09:09] His barrel rate was in the 83rd percentile last year.

[01:09:12] In other words.

[01:09:12] He crushed baseballs.

[01:09:14] The eye test backs that up.

[01:09:16] What he did with the Rangers last year.

[01:09:18] Put a big part in them winning a World Series.

[01:09:20] Dropped to the 55th percentile this year.

[01:09:23] That's a pretty big jump.

[01:09:25] Paired with your expected batting average being in the first percentile at 181.

[01:09:30] There's so much drop off.

[01:09:31] And it doesn't make that much sense.

[01:09:33] Yeah.

[01:09:34] His power essentially just went away.

[01:09:37] Which you know he still turned on some baseballs and hit it over the wall.

[01:09:41] But 341 slug.

[01:09:44] 341 slug.

[01:09:45] For someone who's as selective as he is.

[01:09:48] And swings at.

[01:09:50] Tries to swing at the best pitch as possible.

[01:09:52] He had a 95th percentile chase rate.

[01:09:55] And a 96th percentile walk rate.

[01:09:58] Despite not being able to hit in the strike zone.

[01:10:00] Still managed to reach base.

[01:10:01] Because of that.

[01:10:02] But even with that.

[01:10:04] The power just wasn't there.

[01:10:06] Flabbergasting.

[01:10:07] And.

[01:10:09] It legitimately fell off.

[01:10:11] Fell off a Grand Canyon.

[01:10:13] You can't go into next year expecting.

[01:10:15] I'd say too much from him.

[01:10:17] Unfortunately.

[01:10:17] He's going to have to prove it back.

[01:10:19] He showed he can be hot and cold in his career.

[01:10:21] You got to hope next year is a hot season.

[01:10:23] Now he's going to be deeper into his 30s.

[01:10:25] It's less likely that's the case.

[01:10:28] But nothing's impossible.

[01:10:29] Frankly the Mariners.

[01:10:31] Have already paid him.

[01:10:32] So he's going to get a chance.

[01:10:34] No matter what happened this season or not.

[01:10:37] So.

[01:10:38] And the Mariners are going to hope it's going to be hot.

[01:10:40] I just hope it's like a 100.

[01:10:42] 100 would be a.

[01:10:43] What WRC plus would be a revelation for next year.

[01:10:46] It would make the Mariners a lot better.

[01:10:48] And have a legit backup catcher.

[01:10:49] Like think.

[01:10:50] It's like.

[01:10:51] Would you rather have Mitch Garver from.

[01:10:53] From 2024 or Sebi.

[01:10:55] Like probably still Mitch.

[01:10:57] Dare we even say 110 WRC plus for Mitch Garver.

[01:11:01] There's no reason he can't turn it around to some extent.

[01:11:04] Even if it's not going to be a 140 WRC plus.

[01:11:07] He can still absolutely be a 110 type hitter.

[01:11:11] Especially if he's basically going to platoon.

[01:11:13] And play against lefties.

[01:11:15] Again it was a 124 against lefties.

[01:11:16] This year.

[01:11:17] In 24.

[01:11:18] It can be somewhere from 110 to 120 next year.

[01:11:21] It really can.

[01:11:22] Yeah.

[01:11:24] That's the hope.

[01:11:25] And just a reminder.

[01:11:26] Sebi also wasn't very good on defense.

[01:11:28] So.

[01:11:29] It's not like you could say.

[01:11:30] Oh yeah.

[01:11:30] He's a better defender than Garver was.

[01:11:33] No.

[01:11:34] No.

[01:11:34] No he wasn't.

[01:11:34] So let's hope for the best for Mitch Garver next year.

[01:11:37] Because.

[01:11:38] They need him.

[01:11:39] They could really use it.

[01:11:39] They could really use it.

[01:11:40] And again.

[01:11:40] Since they already spent the money on him.

[01:11:42] We just can't see like a total sunk cost.

[01:11:45] In this whole scenario.

[01:11:47] Because it will.

[01:11:47] It will not incentivize.

[01:11:49] Much more spending.

[01:11:50] If.

[01:11:51] Like one of their premier bat signings.

[01:11:54] Just.

[01:11:55] Okay.

[01:11:55] Legitimately doesn't do anything.

[01:11:57] But let's be real.

[01:11:58] It's not a premier bat signing.

[01:12:00] When you give a guy a two year.

[01:12:01] 24 million dollar contract.

[01:12:03] This is not a knock on Mitch Garver.

[01:12:04] Compared to what.

[01:12:05] Compared to what else they've given out.

[01:12:06] It is.

[01:12:08] Well.

[01:12:09] What they've given out otherwise.

[01:12:11] Should not be the standard.

[01:12:12] They broke a record of a one year.

[01:12:14] Seven million dollar contract.

[01:12:16] For AJ Pollock.

[01:12:17] The year before.

[01:12:18] As the highest position player.

[01:12:19] Free agent.

[01:12:20] This regime.

[01:12:21] This regime's ever signed.

[01:12:22] Which that broke a record.

[01:12:24] Of Nori Aoki.

[01:12:26] At one year.

[01:12:27] For five and a half million dollars.

[01:12:29] A record that lasted.

[01:12:30] For six years.

[01:12:32] And what's the correlation?

[01:12:34] Did any of those work out?

[01:12:35] Oh.

[01:12:35] To answer the question.

[01:12:36] No.

[01:12:38] You know what the correlation should be?

[01:12:40] If you stop trying to bite around the edges.

[01:12:44] And thread the needle on all these acquisitions.

[01:12:47] And actually just sucked it up.

[01:12:50] Gave up the check.

[01:12:52] To guys who are proven stars.

[01:12:55] You might actually make a difference.

[01:12:58] You really might actually make a difference.

[01:13:00] It's crazy to say.

[01:13:01] It's crazy to say.

[01:13:02] But giving really good players the money they deserve.

[01:13:04] Might actually work.

[01:13:06] You know.

[01:13:06] Have anybody ever thought about that?

[01:13:08] Oh sorry.

[01:13:08] TJ.

[01:13:09] TJ.

[01:13:09] What have I told you when I get into this mode?

[01:13:11] What have I told you?

[01:13:12] I need you to slap me out of it.

[01:13:14] Take a deep breath.

[01:13:15] Take a deep breath.

[01:13:15] I need you to slap me.

[01:13:16] I need you to slap me out of it.

[01:13:17] Because I somehow got away from the plot here.

[01:13:20] I keep forgetting.

[01:13:21] I keep forgetting.

[01:13:23] It's not a smart strategy.

[01:13:24] Not a smart strategy.

[01:13:26] You got to just get me out of the trance there dog.

[01:13:29] When I get into that mode.

[01:13:30] You got to remind me.

[01:13:30] Like wow.

[01:13:30] We were told it's not a smart strategy.

[01:13:33] Therefore.

[01:13:34] It's not.

[01:13:36] Do you have any other thoughts on Mitch Garber?

[01:13:39] No.

[01:13:41] That rant had nothing to do with Mitch Garber.

[01:13:43] And everything to do with well.

[01:13:45] The Seattle Mariners.

[01:13:46] The top of the mountain.

[01:13:48] In terms of this franchise.

[01:13:49] In terms of.

[01:13:51] You know.

[01:13:52] The tiers of.

[01:13:54] How the organization is run.

[01:13:56] Yes.

[01:13:56] That's.

[01:13:57] That's.

[01:13:57] That's what it was about.

[01:13:58] No.

[01:13:59] Nothing bad about.

[01:13:59] Nothing.

[01:14:00] Nothing about Mitch Garber.

[01:14:01] I hope he turns it around in 2025.

[01:14:02] And I think he has a chance to do so.

[01:14:04] Let's end the show on a high note.

[01:14:06] Lyle.

[01:14:06] Let's close it out with.

[01:14:07] Speak your mind.

[01:14:08] Speak your mind Spock.

[01:14:14] Would be unwise.

[01:14:15] What is necessary.

[01:14:17] Is never unwise.

[01:14:20] What is on your mind this week?

[01:14:22] Hmm.

[01:14:24] There's a couple things we could go with.

[01:14:26] It's still crazy to me that people wanted to watch that Thursday night football game here

[01:14:30] on Thursday over the playoffs.

[01:14:33] I know.

[01:14:33] Just insanity.

[01:14:34] Just.

[01:14:34] I know football fans aren't.

[01:14:36] I know football fans.

[01:14:37] Some of them are baseball fans.

[01:14:40] But.

[01:14:40] Like.

[01:14:41] Who legitimately cares?

[01:14:43] This.

[01:14:44] You've got Bo Nix playing quarterback for the Broncos.

[01:14:47] Patrick Sertan's out.

[01:14:48] And the Saints.

[01:14:49] Have Spencer Rattler in.

[01:14:52] Like.

[01:14:54] Thursday night football is such a bad product to begin with.

[01:14:56] But that game.

[01:14:57] Was just so.

[01:14:59] So.

[01:15:00] Uninteresting.

[01:15:01] When you have.

[01:15:01] You don't mean the Seahawks game was interesting last week?

[01:15:04] Well.

[01:15:05] But that was our own team.

[01:15:07] I'm joking.

[01:15:08] It sucked.

[01:15:09] I know.

[01:15:10] But we had to watch because it's our own team.

[01:15:12] Whereas.

[01:15:13] When you had arguably the best game of the playoffs going on today.

[01:15:17] Thursday.

[01:15:18] Being the Guardians Yankees game.

[01:15:19] No.

[01:15:20] I'm not turning on Amazon Prime to watch the Saints and Broncos.

[01:15:27] No.

[01:15:28] At least we got the clip of the first quarter of Bo Nix having two wide open receivers.

[01:15:33] And managing to throw right in between the two of them.

[01:15:37] That.

[01:15:38] That was a good clip.

[01:15:39] Here's how I've.

[01:15:40] I've kind of laid it out.

[01:15:41] If you chose to watch that NFL game over the baseball game.

[01:15:46] I recommend you call the number at the bottom of the screen.

[01:15:50] Please.

[01:15:52] It's seriously.

[01:15:53] It's annoying that that game is going to get better.

[01:15:55] A better ratings draw than what Major League Baseball put out.

[01:15:58] Just like how Major League Baseball though.

[01:16:00] On the flip side.

[01:16:01] Got better numbers on FS1 for the Mets and Dodgers.

[01:16:04] Than the Masked Singer did Lyle on Fox.

[01:16:06] Really funny conundrum on Wednesday.

[01:16:08] Where the executives at Fox.

[01:16:11] The wonderful Murdoch family decides to sit there and say.

[01:16:13] You know what?

[01:16:14] The Masked Singer is going to be on the broadcast channel.

[01:16:19] And the Major League Baseball NLCS is going to be on cable.

[01:16:24] And it got.

[01:16:25] The cable channel got three times as many watchers.

[01:16:29] Yeah.

[01:16:29] So Fox.

[01:16:30] The Masked Singer.

[01:16:32] You can put.

[01:16:32] You can break the FS1 thing up and just say.

[01:16:35] It's Fox Singer 1.

[01:16:38] And put the Masked Singer over there.

[01:16:40] And put the NLCS on Fox.

[01:16:42] It sounds good to me.

[01:16:43] Mm-hmm.

[01:16:44] Sad.

[01:16:45] Yeah.

[01:16:45] Sad.

[01:16:47] All right.

[01:16:47] What do you got?

[01:16:49] Well, there's this Brady news this week.

[01:16:51] That he got approved.

[01:16:54] A 10% stake in the Las Vegas Raiders.

[01:16:56] Awesome for him.

[01:16:57] He's made a ton of money in his career.

[01:16:58] And he's now investing it back into the NFL.

[01:17:00] He'll make money off of it.

[01:17:02] And he joins a historic franchise.

[01:17:04] It's great.

[01:17:07] The problem is Mr. Tom signed this very public deal with Fox to be their lead football analyst.

[01:17:16] 10 years for $375 million.

[01:17:20] Just blowing every other broadcast contract out of the water.

[01:17:24] By like $37.5 million a year is way more than anyone else was making.

[01:17:30] By far.

[01:17:32] So Tom was scheduled to now be the number one analyst after never calling a game in his career for the next 10 years.

[01:17:39] In the process, he kicked Greg Olson down to the number two team.

[01:17:44] And Greg Olson lost like 70% of his salary.

[01:17:47] Which is just mind-boggling going down to the number two.

[01:17:50] Losing 70% of your salary.

[01:17:52] And now that Tom is a member of the Raiders organization.

[01:17:55] Here are things he cannot do as a broadcaster now.

[01:17:58] He is not permitted to go into another team's facility.

[01:18:01] He is not permitted to watch practice.

[01:18:05] That's not the Raiders.

[01:18:06] He is not permitted to attend broadcast production meetings.

[01:18:10] Either in person or virtually.

[01:18:12] He is prohibited from publicly criticizing game officials and other clubs.

[01:18:16] He is subject to the NFL's gambling policy.

[01:18:19] And he is subject to the NFL's anti-tampering policy.

[01:18:22] Which means he needs to be very careful about what he says to people not in the Raiders organization.

[01:18:29] Oh, and no.

[01:18:30] So I covered it all there.

[01:18:32] So essentially, Lyle, Tom Brady, over 10 years, is going to get paid $375 million.

[01:18:38] And he can't do most of his job.

[01:18:41] And oh, by the way, you were asking, did I leave anything out?

[01:18:45] You did leave one thing out.

[01:18:46] He's not very good.

[01:18:49] I haven't actually got to hear him because I'm going to be honest.

[01:18:51] He's called, I think, four Cowboys games in six weeks.

[01:18:54] Cowboys have gotten the shit kicked out of him almost every week this year.

[01:18:57] So yeah, I haven't tuned in.

[01:18:59] But I have heard he's a little monotone.

[01:19:02] It's not that interesting.

[01:19:03] Greg Olsen is way better than him.

[01:19:06] And some of you might say, I've seen a lot of Patriots fans shockers saying this because they want to defend him at all costs.

[01:19:11] Well, he hasn't done it before.

[01:19:13] People are being too hard on him.

[01:19:14] You got the number one gig for $37.5 million a year after never calling a game and kicked somebody down to the number two team.

[01:19:22] And Greg Olsen, who, by the way, is really good.

[01:19:25] Really good.

[01:19:27] Like good enough to absolutely be on a number one crew.

[01:19:31] And now not only has Tom Brady replaced him because of the name and the prestige that he has, but he also can't fully do his job.

[01:19:42] And he's also nowhere near as good as Greg Olsen.

[01:19:44] He's just not.

[01:19:45] Look, if Tom Brady had started on the number four crew at Fox and he got so good that he worked his way up to the number one.

[01:19:50] Great.

[01:19:51] That's not what they did.

[01:19:52] They paid him a ridiculous amount of money when he never called the game.

[01:19:55] That's what Greg Olsen did.

[01:19:56] Yeah, he did it when he was with the Seahawks.

[01:19:59] What in 2019?

[01:20:00] During the bye week, he called the game.

[01:20:02] And he did that when he was with the Panthers at points to when they when their season was done or when there was a bye week.

[01:20:07] He was helping call the games.

[01:20:08] Yeah.

[01:20:09] So that was an option, but that didn't happen.

[01:20:12] And now Tom is going to have to get secondhand information through Kevin Burkhart to properly do his job.

[01:20:18] The pluses of being an NFL broadcaster or television broadcaster or national broadcaster anywhere is you get this insight that most regular people don't get.

[01:20:28] But he won't get it.

[01:20:29] He'll he will know no more about the teams he's calling games for than you and I would know about them.

[01:20:34] Mm hmm.

[01:20:35] And I'll say two things to that.

[01:20:37] Number one, I've talked to Brock about this because Brock's in those meetings.

[01:20:41] Brock Huard, for those who don't know what I'm picking up on or who I'm picking up on by first name.

[01:20:46] But I've talked to Brock about this, who's in these meetings every week for his first college football broadcast on Fox.

[01:20:50] And he says those meetings are crucial because there's so much that they that they gain from that and they soak up from that that otherwise they just never pick up on period.

[01:21:00] And it helps the broadcast tremendously.

[01:21:03] Obviously, they don't air out everything that they say because some things these teams will tell these broadcast crews in the production meetings they want off the record.

[01:21:09] But there are ways to get out the information without totally backstabbing the team that gave it to you.

[01:21:16] And that's why those meetings happen, because it is such a wealth of information that those broadcast teams take away from those meetings.

[01:21:23] And it gives you such a clearer picture on what you're walking into before calling a game on Sundays or in Brock's case on Saturdays.

[01:21:31] Number two, if I was Kevin Burkhardt, I'd be pissed because now he has to be in those meetings all on his own, ask all the questions.

[01:21:38] Now is being paid no extra to relay all the information to Tom while Tom's making $375 million a year over 10 years.

[01:21:46] The whole thing's ridiculous.

[01:21:49] You know, so on top of all the information part, the fact that he cannot criticize what is going on on the field, I think that's worse.

[01:22:00] If a team's playing bad, he can't mention that.

[01:22:03] If a referee screws up, he can't say anything.

[01:22:08] How are you supposed to take him seriously?

[01:22:11] So I'm going to be honest.

[01:22:13] I don't think this whole Fox gig for Tom Brady lasts much longer.

[01:22:17] I honestly would be surprised if it lasts longer than this year.

[01:22:20] Again, he's not very good.

[01:22:21] There's already a ton of problems that are standing in the way.

[01:22:25] His ability to call the games is going to objectively be worse.

[01:22:29] This just isn't going to work.

[01:22:30] So I agree it's not really going to work.

[01:22:34] But how do they get out of that contract?

[01:22:38] I'm sure there's some buyout clause or buyout.

[01:22:41] I'm sure they knew that Tom Brady was interested in purchasing a potential part of an NFL team to be a part owner, even before he signed that deal.

[01:22:50] I am sure these people up at the top tier of Fox and these high-end sports networks, I think they know what they're doing with contracts.

[01:22:59] So I'm sure there's something in there that says, hey, you're going to have to give Tom Brady this if that contract ends.

[01:23:05] But there is something in the contract, I'm sure, that says this is what happens if it ends.

[01:23:09] Because again, this just can't go on.

[01:23:11] It's not fair to Kevin Burkhart.

[01:23:13] It's not fair to Greg Olson.

[01:23:14] It's not fair to a bunch of the other people at Fox.

[01:23:16] And most importantly, it's not fair to the fans that tune in to watch these games.

[01:23:20] It's not.

[01:23:21] The Fox executives have to be just furious at this.

[01:23:25] You're investing money to get the full return on your investment.

[01:23:28] And you're going to get like 25% of it.

[01:23:32] Yeah.

[01:23:33] Also, it's still so crazy to me that they even gave him that money in the first place.

[01:23:37] Not just because he's never called games.

[01:23:42] But I don't care who you are.

[01:23:44] I don't care even if you're Tom Brady.

[01:23:48] What NFL fan is tuning into a game for the broadcaster?

[01:23:54] Yeah.

[01:23:54] There used to be an old saying.

[01:23:56] Like, you and I were in journalism school.

[01:23:58] We talked to all these broadcasters.

[01:23:59] We were, you know, we did play-by-play.

[01:24:02] We know all these play-by-play people.

[01:24:03] I've heard this line a bunch from a bunch of our friends that are at Syracuse who learned a lot about Marty Glickman, who was a legendary broadcaster.

[01:24:11] Marty Glickman always used to say, the only person that tunes into a broadcast to hear the broadcaster is his mother.

[01:24:19] Now, that's a little bit exaggerated.

[01:24:22] But I would say this.

[01:24:24] People were probably interested to listen to Tom Brady in his first game.

[01:24:28] See how he was?

[01:24:28] Maybe his first two.

[01:24:30] By now?

[01:24:31] Who cares?

[01:24:32] It doesn't matter if the broadcast crew's awful.

[01:24:34] You're going to watch the game if it's your favorite team.

[01:24:36] And if it's not, you're probably not.

[01:24:37] It'll just be on red zone for you.

[01:24:40] It's so weird that they put that much money into a broadcaster because that doesn't move the needle for fans.

[01:24:45] It's all just about who's playing.

[01:24:48] That has to be the edge of the bubble for contracts, broadcasting contracts.

[01:24:52] You'd have to imagine.

[01:24:52] I thought it would be Tony Romo.

[01:24:54] And then, like, I think Aikman's making more money than Romo now.

[01:24:58] And that's well-deserved because Aikman's very good at his job.

[01:25:01] I think Chris Collinsworth is probably up there, too.

[01:25:04] Once, again, Romo got his just ridiculous contract.

[01:25:07] Talk about another waste of money.

[01:25:08] It's Tony Romo's contract.

[01:25:11] Both him and Tom, it looks like, have the same amount of resources in front of them to call a football game.

[01:25:18] I was going to say, Tony Romo, I don't even think, preps at this point.

[01:25:21] You and I could be up there just saying, well, Jim.

[01:25:23] Oh, I don't know, Jim.

[01:25:25] Well, just here comes the rush off the pass.

[01:25:27] And Mahomes says, yeah, I'll go this way.

[01:25:29] Then I'll go that way.

[01:25:30] And Kelsey's kind of open downfield.

[01:25:32] But I'm going to take the check down to Pacheco.

[01:25:36] It's like, what is that analysis?

[01:25:37] You're not saying anything.

[01:25:42] Let's imagine the broadcast salaries go down now.

[01:25:45] I think that would be good.

[01:25:46] Unless they want to pay us, in which case I'll take a raise.

[01:25:48] That's fine.

[01:25:49] Yeah.

[01:25:49] Because I can attend meetings.

[01:25:50] My pitch to the Murdochs, I can attend meetings.

[01:25:52] I can watch practice.

[01:25:54] Do I know what most formations are?

[01:25:56] No, but I can learn.

[01:25:58] Mm-hmm.

[01:25:59] Mm-hmm.

[01:25:59] Sure.

[01:26:01] Sign me right up.

[01:26:02] It's just crazy that this was allowed to happen.

[01:26:05] Yeah.

[01:26:05] It just seems like an absolute disservice to the billion-dollar NFL broadcasting industry.

[01:26:11] Those rights are worth a shit ton.

[01:26:17] And now the top broadcast on one of the three networks that gets the Super Bowl is going to sound boring.

[01:26:26] The NFC title game this year is going to sound boring.

[01:26:28] Luckily, Tom Brady will probably never call a Super Bowl because Fox just had it, I believe.

[01:26:34] Right?

[01:26:34] Yeah.

[01:26:34] It was last year.

[01:26:36] Two years ago.

[01:26:37] Two years ago.

[01:26:38] Yeah.

[01:26:38] It was the Eagles Chiefs.

[01:26:40] Right.

[01:26:42] So he probably won't ever call a Super Bowl because, again, I'm imagining this is going to end.

[01:26:47] But...

[01:26:48] Oh, and Greg Olson, that Super Bowl, by the way, was awesome.

[01:26:50] Awesome.

[01:26:52] That was going to be my last point before this all ends is...

[01:26:55] Or before we wrap up the podcast is when this all ends, Fox is going to do the Squidward meme to Greg Olson.

[01:27:02] It's going to be, I was just kidding.

[01:27:04] Come on.

[01:27:05] You know I was just kidding.

[01:27:07] Right?

[01:27:07] Right?

[01:27:08] And then they'll bump him back up to the number one team.

[01:27:11] And this is coming from two Seahawks fans where, I will say, there has been a couple moments in Greg Olson's career.

[01:27:18] He hasn't exactly given the Seahawks the benefit of the doubt in the broadcast booth.

[01:27:22] But, alas, I know it wasn't an all sunshine and roses year when he was in Seattle.

[01:27:30] No, it wasn't.

[01:27:30] For a lot of reasons.

[01:27:32] Yeah.

[01:27:32] All right.

[01:27:33] That just about wraps up this edition of the Marine Layer Podcast.

[01:27:38] You guys know the drill.

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[01:28:00] That's TJ.

[01:28:01] I'm Lyle.

[01:28:02] As always, we thank you guys for tuning in.

[01:28:04] We'll talk to you soon.