Episode 194: Is A Luis Castillo Trade No Longer An Option?

[00:00:00] Welcome to episode number 194 of the Marine Layer Podcast. There's still at least a few Mariners rumors out there. Haesung Kim, Luis Castillo, Roki Sasaki, and a couple others. We'll dive into those and we'll read some fan mail that feels pretty timely right about now.

[00:00:16] Just a reminder for you guys before we start this podcast, if you're listening, if you're listening on the audio side, do us a big favor. Make sure these episodes are getting downloaded to your phone. That way you never miss when we post a new episode. If you're already there, go rate and review too.

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[00:00:57] Let's get it rolling.

[00:00:58] And we welcome you to this episode of the MarineLayer Podcast, part of the Just Baseball Podcast Network, recording on Thursday afternoon, December 26th.

[00:01:21] Wow, do I have it right that you got a present from Santa, a.k.a. Santa Jerry DiPoto, and left you a present under your tree? What did he get you?

[00:01:32] I think it was the Auntie Santa, because I opened up a nice wrap gift on Christmas Day, only to pull it out of the box and see a Come to Seattle shirt with the number 17 on it.

[00:01:48] In case you don't remember, there were some shirts going around at the end of September of 2023 that said Come to Seattle for Shohei.

[00:01:58] Everybody knows how badly I wanted Shohei. One for $65 could still be on the table.

[00:02:02] Was the shirt on clearance?

[00:02:06] I didn't get the gift, but it was probably like $5, I'm sure. Yes, I'm sure it was not very expensive.

[00:02:12] Only for me to open it, look once, look twice, drop some F-bombs, chuck it, and scream.

[00:02:19] Thank you, Santa.

[00:02:20] It was within the Mariners' budget this offseason. That's why they got it for you.

[00:02:25] Well, yeah, it was $5. They can afford that.

[00:02:28] See, that type of spending is a smart strategy, because they're like, if we can get our local podcasters pissed off, yeah, that's worth the bang for our buck.

[00:02:36] But hey, sign an Anthony Santander or Christian Walker, no, not a smart strategy.

[00:02:41] I actually have to give some credit to the Mariners that they didn't leave the bag empty.

[00:02:46] We did get a bunch of comments saying, I thought that bag was going to be empty, and those commenters were saying, oh, that would have been really fitting.

[00:02:54] So yeah, not an empty bag. I did not leave Christmas empty-handed from the Seattle Mariners.

[00:02:59] Got some good feedback on potential Mariners' gifts for Christmas. Unfortunately, they didn't do anything.

[00:03:05] We had the meme was floating around of the elf wrapped under the tree.

[00:03:09] It's like, oh, what did St. Jerry DiPoto bring everybody for Christmas?

[00:03:13] There's a variety of answers.

[00:03:16] Did you have a favorite?

[00:03:18] Well, there were a lot of resignation letters. That one was pretty popular.

[00:03:24] There were some ones that I were a little disappointed in.

[00:03:31] Almost, what would I say?

[00:03:33] Saying they don't need anyone wrapped under the tree for Christmas.

[00:03:36] That was a little disappointing.

[00:03:38] There were some Alex Bregmans, which I was proud of.

[00:03:40] Unfortunately, a little bit unrealistic.

[00:03:42] Those feet were pretty big for Alex Bregman, too.

[00:03:45] I feel like Alex Bregman being a shorter dude doesn't have the biggest feet in the world.

[00:03:48] I don't know.

[00:03:49] Did you have a favorite one?

[00:03:52] There was an overwhelming number of comments asking for a certain sale of a certain company in the Soto district.

[00:04:00] So, there were a lot of those.

[00:04:02] Let's put it like that.

[00:04:04] Yeah, it's technically a company, right?

[00:04:06] Yeah, it is a company.

[00:04:08] Yeah.

[00:04:08] There was a lot of calling asking for a certain sale of a Soto company.

[00:04:13] Yeah.

[00:04:15] And did the Christmas presents come true to Arnold?

[00:04:19] No.

[00:04:20] No.

[00:04:20] Unfortunately not.

[00:04:21] How often does Christmas come true for the Mariners?

[00:04:24] Not very often.

[00:04:26] So, are the Mariners still one of, what, three teams to not make a transaction at the Major League level?

[00:04:33] There's more than that, but who hasn't?

[00:04:35] The Padres have it, which is wild in itself that Jerry and A.J. Preller just aren't transacting.

[00:04:41] I don't think the Padres have, if I have that right.

[00:04:44] Whose head is closer to exploding?

[00:04:48] Between the two fan bases?

[00:04:50] No, between the two GMs.

[00:04:53] Hmm.

[00:04:54] I don't know.

[00:04:55] I mean, the Padres need less, so probably Jerry, to be honest.

[00:04:58] The Padres were in the playoffs last year, were one game away, or a few innings away from beating the Dodgers.

[00:05:04] Hmm.

[00:05:06] Plus, the Padres might get rokey, so they could be waiting out on that.

[00:05:12] Certainly they are.

[00:05:13] And as David Sampson explained to us a few weeks ago, the Padres are one of the teams that actually needs to get rid of, as he said, more salary based on where it was at and how much they've been borrowing to pay for all their players.

[00:05:24] So that one at least makes a tiny bit more sense.

[00:05:27] They physically can't afford to add any more because I think their payroll is still over the 230s, right?

[00:05:33] It's still up there.

[00:05:35] Something like that.

[00:05:36] Which, God, if Manny didn't have a full no-trade clause, I would say the Mariners should trade for him in a heartbeat.

[00:05:44] But the Mariners would be probably in the bottom five of 30 teams that Manny would approve as no-trade clause.

[00:05:54] I would have to guess.

[00:05:55] Well, yes.

[00:05:58] However, I would still try and do it.

[00:06:00] Which is why I said if he didn't have a full no-trade clause.

[00:06:04] At least it had the rumor from the MLB executive burner that Nolan Aronado should consider Seattle.

[00:06:12] Is that even worth it?

[00:06:13] Yes.

[00:06:14] Any move would probably be worth it for the Mariners at this point.

[00:06:18] But again, I think Nolan's going the wrong direction.

[00:06:21] And, oh, I thought you meant taking a rumor from MLB executive burner.

[00:06:25] Okay, yeah.

[00:06:26] I got that mixed up.

[00:06:27] I was like, yeah, probably.

[00:06:29] I could just be some 15-year-old running that account.

[00:06:32] Yeah.

[00:06:32] If you were an executive and had an actual burner, would you name it at MLB executive burner?

[00:06:39] Probably not.

[00:06:41] No, you probably have zero followers with no profile picture and you just use the account to scroll Twitter to see what people are saying.

[00:06:48] Yeah.

[00:06:49] I don't think you would actually give it away.

[00:06:52] It would be funny if that was really, say, Jerry DePoto's Twitter account.

[00:06:56] That would be kind of funny.

[00:06:57] Choice to facilitate rumors and spin narratives to get players to Seattle.

[00:07:01] It's like, hey, Nolan, there's some pressure on you now, buddy.

[00:07:06] But that executive burner account tweets about a lot of teams.

[00:07:10] If that was Jerry's actual burner account, you think he'd only tweet about the Mariners regarding the players he wants?

[00:07:16] I think it's Jerry practicing for when he's going to be on TV after he's done working for the Mariners.

[00:07:21] Because that dude is going to be on TV.

[00:07:23] I'd almost guarantee it.

[00:07:26] Yeah.

[00:07:26] And he's practicing getting all of his league rumors up to snuff.

[00:07:31] Because when he has to comment on 30 teams instead of just one.

[00:07:33] Because now if he comments on other teams, he tampers.

[00:07:36] But in the future, he won't have to worry about that.

[00:07:38] Where on TV do you think he ends up?

[00:07:40] I guess the obvious answer is MLB Network because it's in New Jersey and Jerry's from New Jersey.

[00:07:44] So that would make a lot of sense.

[00:07:46] Also, there's no other TV companies that hire an exorbitant amount of baseball personalities.

[00:07:52] Well, if he was ever going to do pregame, postgame, or some type of coverage on, I don't know, ESPN or Fox or something.

[00:07:59] Those are, though, only like a handful of times a year.

[00:08:02] Those guys are all actually on and collectively, you know, there.

[00:08:06] It's like once a week.

[00:08:06] MLB Network has programming throughout the day every single day all year.

[00:08:10] Right.

[00:08:11] Right.

[00:08:12] Right.

[00:08:12] So that would make sense.

[00:08:14] It would make the most sense.

[00:08:15] And that's where Jack Z went, too.

[00:08:16] So he's got to follow the lineage.

[00:08:19] He didn't spend that much time on the network, though.

[00:08:21] I think he was only on there here and there.

[00:08:24] He's still there.

[00:08:25] Somehow.

[00:08:27] I don't know how.

[00:08:28] I don't know what insight that guy provided.

[00:08:30] He used a different resume than the one he got hired by the Mariners with.

[00:08:33] Well, considering, yeah, his resume to the Mariners said, I love modern day analytics.

[00:08:38] It's how the game is developing and changing, and you have to adapt with it.

[00:08:42] Oh, let's go trade for Mark Trumbo.

[00:08:46] Just a great fit.

[00:08:48] That's what we call a five-tool player right there.

[00:08:50] It clearly worked.

[00:08:51] So good job.

[00:08:52] Good job, Jack Z.

[00:08:54] What a friend.

[00:08:54] Which of these Mariners rumors do we want to discuss first?

[00:08:56] I see one as we were preparing for the show today that popped up that really interested me.

[00:09:02] And I feel like I want to start with this one.

[00:09:04] So John Heyman was doing a Bleacher Report live today on Thursday, and he was discussing the Luis Castillo trade market and said the Mariners are, quote, frustrated by some of the deals they've been hearing lately around Castillo.

[00:09:18] What do you make of that rumor?

[00:09:21] I make that you didn't bring that segment in very well.

[00:09:24] You said it in a very normal, monotone-type voice, not, you know, the Mariners, they're listening on Castillo.

[00:09:33] They're looking to get some better offers, and they're not impressed with what's out there right now.

[00:09:40] I don't know what Jerry DiPoto is going to do.

[00:09:43] I don't believe it.

[00:09:47] Yes.

[00:09:48] Anyway.

[00:09:48] Shame on us for not—I wish we uploaded that and could play that drop.

[00:09:52] That would be good.

[00:09:53] If we didn't believe what John Heyman was reporting, which I unfortunately do believe, actually, because the Mariners obviously haven't had any traction on a Luis Castillo deal, would be great timing.

[00:10:04] It's like, well, I actually don't believe that.

[00:10:07] Rumor.

[00:10:07] Yeah.

[00:10:08] Boom.

[00:10:09] I can't even believe it.

[00:10:10] I can't even believe it!

[00:10:13] What an interview.

[00:10:14] Anyway, we're getting sidetracked.

[00:10:17] The Mariners are frustrated with offers that are coming in for Luis Castillo.

[00:10:21] Well, I would imagine so if they didn't like Tristan Casas for Luis Castillo one for one or whatever the package would have been.

[00:10:30] They're clearly looking for a lot and not getting it.

[00:10:35] So, shocker.

[00:10:36] They're frustrated.

[00:10:37] They're probably asking for what other teams may view as too much, what the Mariners might view as market value, and the two sides can't see eye to eye.

[00:10:44] There's a couple different ways I've thought about this.

[00:10:47] Tristan Casas is probably the best player, period, you could have gotten back one-on-one for Luis Castillo, given it's a deal that made the most sense.

[00:10:55] But the Red Sox don't need any more pitching now.

[00:10:57] They've added three new arms to the rotation this offseason, on top of the current guys they already had in the rotation.

[00:11:04] That part, from the Red Sox sense now especially, doesn't make much sense.

[00:11:07] Also, how many other 25, 26-year-olds who have copious amounts of big league time, who are proven at the plate that play a position of need, are actually available for you?

[00:11:18] Not that many.

[00:11:20] So, if that was the best option and the Mariners didn't like that option, well, you are going to be frustrated hearing some of the other offers from other teams.

[00:11:28] And I think it kind of ties into some of the other stagnation that has come from the Mariners and what they have copious amounts of.

[00:11:35] We talked about that they should be full willing to trade almost any of their prospects for players right now, and that other teams don't really want prospects because most teams feel like they're in a window to contend due to the expanded playoff field.

[00:11:50] Well, I think other teams are viewing acquiring Luis Castillo the same way where they're like, we'll give you prospects for Castillo, but we're trying to get better too.

[00:11:59] We don't get better by trading for Luis Castillo and giving up big league talent.

[00:12:04] Therefore, we're just not going to do it.

[00:12:06] And the Mariners don't want to hear that because they need big league talent too.

[00:12:11] I'm just trying to think this through here, but looking at what the market has been for Nathan Ivaldi, for Luis Severino, for even guys like Patrick Sandoval, shouldn't you be able to garner a lot for Luis Castillo?

[00:12:27] Or are you saying it's more about even if that's what the market should be, teams just aren't going to give it up?

[00:12:33] The latter part of your argument.

[00:12:36] Both teams at this point, both sides of a Luis Castillo trade are trying to get better at the major league level.

[00:12:41] If the Mariners want a Tristan Casas level bat back, does the other team acquiring Luis Castillo at this point actually get better?

[00:12:50] My answer to that question would be no.

[00:12:53] What if you're the Orioles and you trade Kobe Mayo?

[00:12:56] You could argue you get better.

[00:12:58] But as we talked about on Wednesday's episode, what if the Orioles feel like Kobe Mayo is an everyday part of their 2025 infield?

[00:13:06] Then that doesn't, in their eyes, make them better.

[00:13:11] Now, roster-wise, I think that would be a loss the Orioles could absolutely absorb.

[00:13:15] They have a ton of infield bats.

[00:13:17] They have really, really good young hitters.

[00:13:20] We said on Wednesday, acquire Ryan Mountcastle.

[00:13:22] You keep Ryan Mountcastle and you leave the rest of your infield the way it is.

[00:13:25] And I would say your infield turns out okay.

[00:13:27] You platoon Mountcastle and O'Hearn at first.

[00:13:30] I think that's what they were doing most of last year.

[00:13:32] O'Hearn versus righties.

[00:13:34] Mountcastle versus lefties.

[00:13:35] That ends up being a pretty good duo.

[00:13:38] And then you have all your other young guys on your infield.

[00:13:40] It kind of works out pretty well.

[00:13:42] Westberg, Gunnar Henderson, Jackson Holiday.

[00:13:44] It's pretty good.

[00:13:46] Kobe Mayo at that point is expendable.

[00:13:48] But if they don't see it that way, then the Mariners aren't going to get what they want for Castillo, unfortunately.

[00:13:54] I just don't know how the Orioles could be viewing their rotation right now and saying we can win a World Series with this.

[00:14:02] Because they're not going to get Corbin Burns back.

[00:14:04] And their rotation wasn't even good enough last year with Burns.

[00:14:06] It was good.

[00:14:07] Not good enough.

[00:14:08] Right now, you've got Grayson Rodriguez.

[00:14:10] You've got Sugano, who you just signed from Japan, who's on a one-year deal, a little older.

[00:14:14] He's had some success in Japan.

[00:14:17] We'll see how he does stateside.

[00:14:19] And then you should get Kyle Braddish back, but he missed basically all of last year.

[00:14:24] After that, we'll see how they piece it all together.

[00:14:27] Point being, that rotation's not good enough.

[00:14:29] I think Luis Castillo would bolster that rotation to a point where even if you don't think it's the best in baseball,

[00:14:35] even if you don't think that it's even the best in your own division,

[00:14:39] you still feel a lot better with that going into October when you give away a guy who essentially has a cloudy spot on the big league roster,

[00:14:49] even if down the road you think he's going to be really good.

[00:14:52] And that's not the only rotation where we could say that.

[00:14:55] But if the other team doesn't think so, then it's Noel.

[00:15:00] Right.

[00:15:01] And I would say people around baseball understand, too, where Luis Castillo is at.

[00:15:05] He could bounce back next year and have an amazing season, but it's not guaranteed.

[00:15:09] He's getting into his 30s.

[00:15:11] People noticed the swing and miss went down last year.

[00:15:14] He's getting hit a little bit harder.

[00:15:15] Just seems like the best years of Luis Castillo are in the past as of right now.

[00:15:20] He could rebound, but that's a big if.

[00:15:21] And if you're giving up a player that the Mariners feel like is going to make themselves immensely better,

[00:15:27] you want something a little bit more guaranteed and on the upward trend instead of the downward trend, unfortunately.

[00:15:33] Right.

[00:15:35] And the Mariners aren't going to take prospects for the guy, unless it's Kobe Mayo, by the way.

[00:15:40] I think that's just about the only prospect they'd say yes to for Castillo.

[00:15:44] And otherwise, they want proven big league talent.

[00:15:47] I don't know who's going to give up that proven big league talent.

[00:15:49] We talked about Casas.

[00:15:50] If that's not going to happen, where else are they going to turn?

[00:15:53] Cubs don't seem interested anymore.

[00:15:54] The Mets don't have the pieces.

[00:15:56] I don't know who it's going to be.

[00:15:58] It's prospect really for Kobe Mayo only in name because the intention would be for him to be an everyday big league player this year.

[00:16:04] Right.

[00:16:05] With six years of control on the upside of a 30-35 home run bat.

[00:16:10] And there was only a handful of those guys ready anywhere across baseball, unfortunately.

[00:16:17] So that's where the Mariners are at.

[00:16:18] I would get why they're frustrated at this point.

[00:16:20] But unfortunately for them, it feels like the peak Luis Castillo trade packages they could get back are all gone.

[00:16:27] Like, where's the fit now?

[00:16:30] Baltimore.

[00:16:31] But if they don't say yes to a trade, you're out of luck.

[00:16:35] And that's no way to bargain.

[00:16:38] No.

[00:16:39] Because then Baltimore, especially at that point, if Baltimore knows all their competition for Luis Castillo goes out the window, why should you have to give up the best possible package?

[00:16:49] But the Mariners might balk at that too.

[00:16:51] They'll say, if you're not going to give us what we want, we're not trading you Luis Castillo and we know you guys need starting pitching.

[00:16:58] So it's kind of, there's a hand to be played on both sides of that.

[00:17:01] But lucky for the Orioles, they could say, whoa, we've had two amazing seasons in back-to-back years.

[00:17:08] Like, sure, it will help.

[00:17:09] We've won games regardless.

[00:17:12] Not going to have Corbin Burns this time.

[00:17:14] You got Kyle Braddish coming off the injury.

[00:17:16] You don't have a deep rotation.

[00:17:17] You're banking on an older veteran in Sugana who's never played in professional baseball before, or in Major League Baseball, I should say, to have a really good year.

[00:17:26] There's questions in that rotation.

[00:17:29] Definitely questions.

[00:17:30] I just don't feel like they are in the corner here where they're desperate.

[00:17:36] I think both teams could use the help on each side.

[00:17:39] I don't know if the Mariners feel like they're desperate either.

[00:17:42] Well, they should be because they need bats, but I don't know if they feel that way up in the front office.

[00:17:47] And that's essentially how they've operated.

[00:17:51] Listen, if the Mariners go into next season with all five of their current starters intact, I don't really think anyone's complaining.

[00:17:59] And if there was never going to be a proper market on Luis Castillo, then that's totally understandable.

[00:18:04] There's no reason to trade from a rotation at a loss, right?

[00:18:08] So you keep everyone intact.

[00:18:09] The problem is there has been nothing else around the Luis Castillo.

[00:18:14] We have the Luis Castillo rumors.

[00:18:16] It's like, okay, now that you're not trading Luis Castillo, here's how instead we're going to solve these problems.

[00:18:21] Instead, the problems have just remained unsolved.

[00:18:23] In fact, have grown arguably larger based on some other transactions this offseason and potential players off the board.

[00:18:31] I think we're all frustrated about this, to be honest, and not just about Castillo.

[00:18:36] No.

[00:18:37] No.

[00:18:37] Fans are frustrated because they're going to see that tweet.

[00:18:40] They're going to see Heyman's report.

[00:18:42] And fans are going to say, you're frustrated that you're not getting the package for Castillo?

[00:18:47] Why don't you keep Castillo and sign the fucking bats?

[00:18:53] But now we're going to bitch and moan here on our own platform as nothing's going to get done up in the ownership group.

[00:18:59] So really, we're just yelling into an abyss.

[00:19:02] And it's going to go absolutely nowhere because they're not going to spend more than $15 million.

[00:19:06] And that ends that, doesn't it?

[00:19:09] Unfortunately so.

[00:19:10] And I think there's another rumor out there that some people have been speculating and paying attention to that is something to keep an eye on when it comes to a target the Mariners could be in on this offseason.

[00:19:24] And they said it's at the top of their priority list and has potential to be an unreal player.

[00:19:28] And that's Roki Sasaki.

[00:19:29] There's been some news leaking out about the meetings that he's been having over the course of the last couple of weeks.

[00:19:36] Let's see the list here.

[00:19:38] Mets, Yankees, Cubs, Rangers, Giants, and the Dodgers and Padres are expected.

[00:19:44] These are all the ones that have been reported.

[00:19:47] Mariners are not on that list.

[00:19:49] This is pure speculation at this point about Roki Sasaki and his very early rounds of being quartered to Major League Baseball.

[00:19:58] Is this a rumor you raise your eyebrow at at all?

[00:20:03] I'm tossing and turning about it.

[00:20:05] Because again, let's list out those teams again.

[00:20:07] It's the Yankees, Cubs, Giants, Rangers, and did you say Mets he's met with?

[00:20:12] The Mets have gotten a meeting.

[00:20:13] The Giants have as well.

[00:20:14] Yeah.

[00:20:15] So Mets, Yankees, Cubs, Giants, and Rangers.

[00:20:20] Those are the five so far.

[00:20:22] The Dodgers and Padres, who it's well known those two are going to be a couple of the frontrunners for Roki.

[00:20:27] They haven't had them yet, but you know those meetings are coming.

[00:20:30] So that's seven.

[00:20:32] And the reason we bring this rumor up is because the Red Sox want a meeting with Roki Sasaki.

[00:20:37] The Red Sox have interest in Roki Sasaki.

[00:20:40] What team wouldn't?

[00:20:41] An arm that's going to cost you league minimum and a little bit of international signing bonus money

[00:20:46] to pitch in your rotation for six years at a league minimum deal and is upside the ace of your staff, including in Seattle.

[00:20:54] So, of course, every team's interested, but staying on the Red Sox here for a second, Craig Breslow's been on the record saying,

[00:21:00] yeah, we want to meet with Roki Sasaki.

[00:21:03] We are interested in Roki Sasaki, but as we currently stand, there is no meeting planned, and we have not met with him yet.

[00:21:12] So, again, there's no meeting.

[00:21:14] They have not had a meeting, and there is not one planned as we currently speak,

[00:21:17] which makes it sound like Roki Sasaki may not be interested in pitching at Fenway Park.

[00:21:22] So, I think a lot of Red Sox fans are a little frustrated right now because they say,

[00:21:27] look, we want Roki Sasaki, but it doesn't sound like we're ever going to get a chance to make the pitch to him.

[00:21:33] Where that ties back to the Mariners is, like you said when you brought this topic in, they're not on this list.

[00:21:40] It has not been reported if they met with him or not.

[00:21:43] So, now there's speculation of, is Roki Sasaki going to give the Mariners a fighting chance in these sweepstakes?

[00:21:51] Is he going to sit down for a meeting with them?

[00:21:54] It hasn't been reported one way or another, but given how the offseason's gone, I think it's fair to have some skepticism.

[00:22:02] Mariners don't normally leak things like this, though I feel like it would get leaked from the other side

[00:22:08] or would get leaked from another team who has insight to this stuff.

[00:22:11] And at this point, I don't know why the Mariners would keep something like this so close to the vest

[00:22:15] because it's clear other teams are willing to leak that they're going to have meetings with Roki Sasaki

[00:22:20] and Roki probably thinks, whatever, it doesn't really matter.

[00:22:23] That much really doesn't matter to me, it seems like.

[00:22:26] So, I see no downside for the Mariners to keep something like this a total secret based on how the offseason's gone.

[00:22:33] I think fans could use the tiniest sliver of optimism when it comes to potentially getting an elite player.

[00:22:40] But that's not been the case this offseason.

[00:22:42] I hope we will hear some version of yes or no before he signs.

[00:22:47] I would like to know that.

[00:22:50] I would prefer when the Mariners say they've made one of their top priorities this offseason,

[00:22:55] we don't go until he inevitably signs with the Dodgers,

[00:22:59] that we wait until the beginning of the season where he says,

[00:23:03] oh yeah, we never got to meet with Roki Sasaki.

[00:23:05] It's like, wait, so there was a multi-year plan to court Roki Sasaki to Seattle

[00:23:11] and he didn't give you a meeting and didn't hear about it until now?

[00:23:15] That would be interesting.

[00:23:17] I think it's still too early to make that declaration, but definitely interesting.

[00:23:22] What if it came out in April or whenever after Sasaki signed, we assume elsewhere,

[00:23:29] that the Mariners say, yes, we did have a meeting with him.

[00:23:32] It was a good meeting.

[00:23:32] He just didn't choose us.

[00:23:34] Would then you change your opinion at all and say to yourself,

[00:23:37] well, I'm glad they tried.

[00:23:38] I'm glad they had the meeting.

[00:23:40] He just didn't choose them.

[00:23:41] If they met with him and he decided to sign with the Dodgers,

[00:23:44] how am I going to blame Roki Sasaki?

[00:23:47] You're not, but I'm saying what if the report doesn't get out there until April?

[00:23:50] Let's say May, like way later.

[00:23:52] Then it would be essentially a nothing burger.

[00:23:54] I think it would be a bigger story if they didn't get to meet with him.

[00:23:58] Because at that point, it's like, this is just a total misvaluation then.

[00:24:04] I think, remember how I posed the question on Wednesday's episode saying,

[00:24:09] are we ready to stamp a Denzel Crocker F on the Mariners offseason?

[00:24:13] And we said, well, not yet because there's still offseason left.

[00:24:16] There's still players on the board.

[00:24:17] But if it comes out that Roki Sasaki does not even want to sit down for a meeting with the Mariners,

[00:24:23] we might be pushing really close to that Denzel Crocker F.

[00:24:26] Because in that scenario, you're talking about saying Roki Sasaki was your top priority.

[00:24:32] You said that you've worked to make a pitch with the guy for a while,

[00:24:38] and he didn't even sit down with you.

[00:24:40] And then, oh, we had Carlos Santana as a top priority, and he didn't sign here either.

[00:24:46] That would be a bad look.

[00:24:47] At that point, you sit down and ask, it's like, are you spending your time wisely?

[00:24:53] Really?

[00:24:54] Like, all this time they had spent, they've said for years,

[00:24:58] getting this pitch ready for Roki Sasaki, and he doesn't bother sitting down with you.

[00:25:01] It's like, are you sure you know how to evaluate this market properly?

[00:25:07] It's almost, people will say this anyway, Lyle, but that's the definition of a vote of no confidence.

[00:25:13] Right.

[00:25:15] And that has been a flaw and a weakness of this front office.

[00:25:20] As well as they've drafted, as well as they've developed pitching, they cannot seem to land.

[00:25:26] Well, Roki's a pitcher, so this is a little bit different.

[00:25:29] But they just cannot seem to land a lot of established big league talent on the free agent or trade markets,

[00:25:36] especially when it comes to the offensive side of the ball.

[00:25:38] This is a little different because it's the hitting side,

[00:25:40] but it's to your same point of, are you putting your effort into the wrong baskets or into the wrong things?

[00:25:50] Right.

[00:25:53] And, oh, I had one other note.

[00:25:56] And so, based on, and on top of that, how it's clear you guys can develop pitching among the best in baseball,

[00:26:04] like, what does that say about the rest of your org if he's not even willing to meet with you,

[00:26:08] despite all of those pitching positives that you have?

[00:26:12] Right.

[00:26:12] It says a lot.

[00:26:13] And paired with not just how well they've developed pitching and kept them healthy,

[00:26:17] but all the external factors, too.

[00:26:19] Pitcher's Park, close to Japan, media markets really friendly.

[00:26:24] It's not New York.

[00:26:25] It's not L.A.

[00:26:26] There's a lot of things that line up for Roki Sasaki and the Seattle Mariners.

[00:26:32] In fact, there's been a lot of people on the outside that have started to say,

[00:26:35] yeah, I wonder if Roki's going to sign with Seattle.

[00:26:38] Peter said that.

[00:26:39] Our buddy Peter Apple, who is one of the three hosts of the Just Baseball show,

[00:26:44] the network we're a part of, he said that a couple weeks ago.

[00:26:47] He's like, dude, I think the Mariners are going to get Roki.

[00:26:49] Now, Peter may be a lot more optimistic than people in the Seattle market

[00:26:54] who have just been now taught to enhance and basically consume skepticism.

[00:27:04] But there's a reason other people are saying, yeah, this would make a lot of sense.

[00:27:08] There's a lot of things that line up.

[00:27:10] So to your point, if all those things line up for Roki Sasaki and he won't even sit to talk with the team,

[00:27:16] won't even listen to what they have to say, it's not a good sign.

[00:27:20] Another thing about the Roki Sasaki sweepstakes, based on what Joel Wolfe was talking about the winter meetings,

[00:27:26] I'm staring at these teams, Mets, Yankees, Cubs, Rangers, Giants, Dodgers, Padres.

[00:27:34] We'll see what he eventually chooses.

[00:27:35] Was the small market thing just a good quote?

[00:27:39] It's possible because those are not small markets.

[00:27:43] Zero small markets in that group.

[00:27:44] Just, oh, sorry, just the Padres.

[00:27:46] Right.

[00:27:47] What do you call the Rangers?

[00:27:50] Dude, Dallas is like the number five media market in the country.

[00:27:52] Yeah, that's a big market.

[00:27:54] But do the Rangers have a lot of media?

[00:27:58] Eh.

[00:27:59] In terms of media pressure, no.

[00:28:02] It's not like the Northeast.

[00:28:04] It's not like LA.

[00:28:05] But it's still pretty big.

[00:28:06] It is.

[00:28:08] So if you're going to call Dallas a big market, which is fine,

[00:28:11] what teams, aside from the Mariners and the Padres,

[00:28:15] could even make sense for Roki if he's looking at some of these smaller markets?

[00:28:20] I don't think he's going to sign with the Reds, for example,

[00:28:23] and that bam box of a park in the Midwest.

[00:28:25] I doubt it.

[00:28:26] The Guardians.

[00:28:27] Yeah, it could be one.

[00:28:29] That's small market with great pitching development.

[00:28:31] Mm-hmm.

[00:28:32] That would make some sense.

[00:28:34] The Twins develop pitchers pretty well, too.

[00:28:37] Right?

[00:28:38] Yeah.

[00:28:40] Would he sign there?

[00:28:41] I guess it's possible.

[00:28:43] Based on what Joe Wolfe said, small market, good first development.

[00:28:48] What about Atlanta?

[00:28:51] Not a small market, but good pitching development, definitely.

[00:28:55] It's not a huge market.

[00:28:57] It's not small.

[00:28:58] It's pretty big.

[00:28:59] It's bigger than Seattle is.

[00:29:01] But it's not LA.

[00:29:02] It's not New York.

[00:29:03] It's not Chicago.

[00:29:04] No.

[00:29:04] The only thing is it's an upper middle market.

[00:29:07] Right.

[00:29:08] It's very far from Japan.

[00:29:10] I don't know how important that is to Roki Sasaki, but it's something to consider.

[00:29:13] So.

[00:29:15] Well, we'll see if they hold up their end of the bargain of being away from media pressure

[00:29:20] and small markets.

[00:29:21] Because based on that list, it essentially goes against the grain of what they were talking

[00:29:25] about and what he wants.

[00:29:27] Right.

[00:29:28] Now, he did also name some of the best orgs in baseball, which makes sense.

[00:29:32] Best orgs are usually in the biggest markets because they have the best resources.

[00:29:36] But, you know, the whole small market thing seems to be taking a backseat to everything

[00:29:42] else in this sweepstakes.

[00:29:43] And it's going essentially how everyone thought, where the teams with the most resources and

[00:29:49] the best reputations get to take those meetings.

[00:29:54] Maybe Joe Wolf wanted that out there to put some pressure on the bigger market teams.

[00:29:58] Maybe he didn't want the big market teams to feel like they were going to just coast to

[00:30:01] this thing.

[00:30:02] Maybe he wanted it to feel like a true sweepstakes with 30 teams involved.

[00:30:06] Maybe that was a ploy and a tactic that he put out there by putting that quote out there to

[00:30:11] say, look, he only costs international slot money.

[00:30:14] Every team's got a chance.

[00:30:15] So, yeah, he would be open to a small market.

[00:30:19] I guess we'll find out soon.

[00:30:23] He's when when is he going to get posted?

[00:30:25] He hasn't been posted yet, has he?

[00:30:26] He's been posted.

[00:30:27] Oh, he hasn't posted.

[00:30:28] OK, he's been posted like like he could sign right now if he chose to.

[00:30:31] He's just not going to.

[00:30:32] He's not going to until January 15th or later.

[00:30:35] Right.

[00:30:36] But so we'll see once that January 15th date hits.

[00:30:40] I think he only has eight or nine days left before that posting window closes.

[00:30:44] So I'm sure once January 15th rolls around, it's going to be very, very shortly after that.

[00:30:49] Unless you have anything to mention else to mention on Rokey.

[00:30:52] We do have one more posted free agent that has been back in the rumor mill for the Mariners.

[00:30:56] Yeah, we do.

[00:30:57] Before we get to that, let's take a pause here because we're going to talk to you guys about

[00:31:01] our friends over at Pogaccia's Pub 85.

[00:31:03] That's over in Kirkland.

[00:31:05] If you guys want to plan a night out with your friends and watch some games, you guys want

[00:31:08] to play some pool or some darts, look no further and head over there.

[00:31:12] It really is an awesome time, you guys.

[00:31:14] There's 20 TVs in that place.

[00:31:15] If you want to watch football, if you want to watch basketball, there could be a variety

[00:31:18] of games on.

[00:31:19] You can watch everything.

[00:31:20] Have at it because that's what it's there for.

[00:31:22] Also, there's awesome food.

[00:31:24] And if you go during happy hour, drink specials are three and four dollars during happy hour.

[00:31:28] You're not going to find better deals than that.

[00:31:30] Three and four dollar drinks.

[00:31:41] It's over at Pogaccia's Pub 85 in Kirkland.

[00:31:44] It was reported out of Korea this week as we get to our last rumor by a Korean media company

[00:31:51] YTN around KBO free agent Haesung Kim, who's posted and has until January 3rd to sign.

[00:31:58] He's got three teams in his market that was reported that are expressing, quote, the greatest

[00:32:05] interest.

[00:32:06] It is.

[00:32:07] Yeah, it's the Angels.

[00:32:09] It's the Padres and it's the Mariners in his services.

[00:32:13] It's going to make sense at this point, given how the market is shaken up and where the Mariners

[00:32:19] second base situation currently is.

[00:32:23] Shockingly enough, this lines up pretty much with what the Mariners idea of an offseason

[00:32:27] was from the start, as we had heard from the start.

[00:32:36] Not not to not to not to improve Lyle's mood very much.

[00:32:40] No.

[00:32:42] I I am zero percent on board with this.

[00:32:45] Goes on with the Angels.

[00:32:46] Goes on with the Angels.

[00:32:47] You are more than welcome to go soak in the sun in Southern California.

[00:32:52] Not in Seattle.

[00:32:54] No.

[00:32:55] He, as you talked about, TJ, last show, maybe two shows ago, Glaber Torres at a 120 WRC plus

[00:33:03] in 2023 in Major League Baseball.

[00:33:06] Haesung Kim at a 118 WRC plus in the KBO, which is essentially double A.

[00:33:14] This, this is their grand idea.

[00:33:17] You want to sign a guy who's reportedly a good defender that I'm not convinced is even

[00:33:21] going to reach a 95 WRC plus in Major League Baseball, especially not in year one or two.

[00:33:27] Go re-sign Josh Rojas if this is your plan.

[00:33:30] Giving this guy, in my opinion, a four year, $20 million deal, even if it's 25, 28, it could

[00:33:37] get up.

[00:33:38] No.

[00:33:39] That is a, for my money, an atrocious use of your resources.

[00:33:44] Look, I'm not going to say I'm some professional scout and I've spent all my time in the world

[00:33:48] scouting Haesung Kim, but what has, have you seen anybody out there stamp their name on

[00:33:57] a take of, yeah, he's really going to hit stateside.

[00:34:00] He's really going to hit in the majors.

[00:34:01] I haven't seen anybody say that.

[00:34:03] You're trying to improve your offense?

[00:34:05] If your idea is just bring in a good defender, go bring back Josh Rojas on a one year, one

[00:34:11] and a half million dollar deal.

[00:34:13] Let Haesung Kim go somewhere else.

[00:34:15] I don't know how this is a good idea in any way, shape or form.

[00:34:18] The Rojas idea, I think, makes so much more sense than a multi-year commitment to someone

[00:34:24] who's unproven.

[00:34:26] He's going to be, he's going to provide value.

[00:34:29] Haesung Kim will provide value based on his defense.

[00:34:31] And again, he's supposed to be a good base runner too.

[00:34:34] So that alone provides value even if you cannot hit major league pitching.

[00:34:40] And it might take him a little while to hit major league pitching.

[00:34:43] Eventually, sometimes these guys just figure it out.

[00:34:45] It's when you make like when you make a jump from double A to the big leagues, sometimes

[00:34:50] it'll take a year or two.

[00:34:51] The problem is the Mariners don't have a year or two for him to figure out big league pitching.

[00:34:55] So you get Josh Rojas and at least you have someone who you're comfortable with, you know

[00:35:00] his personality and you know all the hard work he puts in at the field to essentially put

[00:35:05] up two wars, a defense only guy last year.

[00:35:08] Is it good enough?

[00:35:09] No, I don't think any of these options are really good enough at this point.

[00:35:12] But if this is the point we've gotten to, you don't have to commit to Josh Rojas for

[00:35:18] longer than a year.

[00:35:19] And if Colt Emerson's ready by then or you suddenly have more money in the budget to go

[00:35:24] upgrade actually with someone else on someone else's roster at this point.

[00:35:29] Great.

[00:35:30] But Haesung Kim as anything other than maybe a backup option would be disappointing.

[00:35:37] But in terms of where the Mariners offseason has gotten, this isn't the most shocking news

[00:35:42] to come out that this is what they would be in on.

[00:35:45] It's like it's going to take up 30% of their offseason budget.

[00:35:48] Great.

[00:35:49] Great.

[00:35:50] This is one of the only moves they can actually afford at this point.

[00:35:53] Like, is Jorge Polanco returning even the worst idea in the world?

[00:35:57] If these are the other two options for second base.

[00:36:01] Is Jorge Polanco the worst idea in the world?

[00:36:04] Give me the Mariners taking another flyer on Jorge Polanco for a year over Haesung Kim every

[00:36:09] day of the week and twice on Sundays.

[00:36:12] I know Jorge Polanco didn't play good defense last year.

[00:36:15] I know he struggled at the plate, but he was very injured.

[00:36:19] It was a totally new organization.

[00:36:21] Took some getting adjusted to.

[00:36:23] I would be shocked if he has another year in 2025 like he just did.

[00:36:30] I bet you he bounces back.

[00:36:31] And I would take the chance on the Mariners bringing him back to do that, especially if

[00:36:36] it's going to be for six, seven million dollars.

[00:36:39] Hell of a lot better than Haesung Kim, who again, I'm not convinced is going to hit a single

[00:36:45] lick in Major League Baseball.

[00:36:47] And I have no interest in giving that guy a multi-year contract for any sort of real

[00:36:51] money.

[00:36:52] Does Jorge Polanco have any interest in coming back though?

[00:36:55] Probably not.

[00:36:56] He's going for a one-year prove-it deal to go hit and prove that he's still got it.

[00:37:01] I think Seattle would be at the bottom of his list.

[00:37:05] No.

[00:37:06] If you're Jorge Polanco and you're looking at a pitcher's park where you really struggled,

[00:37:12] weather's not great.

[00:37:15] Yeah.

[00:37:16] It can't be that intriguing.

[00:37:18] Now, I don't know what exactly he thought of if you gave him truth serum of the organization

[00:37:23] as a whole during his one year here.

[00:37:24] I have no idea.

[00:37:24] Maybe he loved it.

[00:37:26] We have no idea.

[00:37:27] But if you're looking for a one-year deal to try to have a bounce back year and get some

[00:37:32] money in free agency, then yeah.

[00:37:35] Why would you not go to an extremely hitter friendly park and try to have a resurgent

[00:37:40] year?

[00:37:42] And I would say the same thing for Josh Rojas too, if he can get a big league deal.

[00:37:47] It's unknown right now if Josh Rojas would get a big league deal for next season.

[00:37:52] I don't know.

[00:37:53] We haven't heard anything about his market.

[00:37:55] But for a million dollars at this point, it's like a million dollars of Josh Rojas, five

[00:38:00] million dollars for Haesung Kim.

[00:38:02] Feels like a pretty easy decision at this point.

[00:38:05] So those are the options at second base.

[00:38:07] Congratulations.

[00:38:07] We did it.

[00:38:08] A lot quicker than our Wednesday episode of first-based options.

[00:38:13] Not a lot out there, is there?

[00:38:15] Now, well, that's not true.

[00:38:17] We didn't mention Haesung Kim, which I would still be very interested in.

[00:38:22] I understand he might miss a month of the season.

[00:38:24] Could be six weeks with that shoulder injury.

[00:38:26] I would still take him.

[00:38:28] I would still be interested in Gleyber Torres.

[00:38:30] What?

[00:38:30] Out of budget.

[00:38:32] I'd still be interested in Gleyber Torres too?

[00:38:35] Yeah.

[00:38:36] No, it's not out of budget.

[00:38:38] It's just out of their made-up budget.

[00:38:41] Out of their budget.

[00:38:44] Made-up budget.

[00:38:45] Yes.

[00:38:45] Right.

[00:38:46] Yes.

[00:38:47] Arbitrary, self-imposed budget.

[00:38:49] Yeah.

[00:38:50] Not a smart strategy.

[00:38:51] No.

[00:38:52] I got a crazy idea to throw out here if we're just going to get back to Gleyber for a second

[00:38:57] here.

[00:38:58] He has never played a game in his career in the big leagues at third base.

[00:39:04] That being said, can he play third base?

[00:39:07] Because what if you could get Gleyber to try and do it, and then you could bring someone

[00:39:11] else into town to play second, whether you trade for Brandon Lau, whether you try to also

[00:39:15] sign Haesung Kim.

[00:39:16] Not Haesung, if you were interested in Haesung.

[00:39:19] Something like that.

[00:39:20] If you were to sign Haesung Kim and sign Gleyber Torres to play third base, again, I'm not

[00:39:26] saying that's some ultra-inspiring offseason, but I wouldn't be furious.

[00:39:31] I'd love to hear from a scout if Gleyber could play third.

[00:39:35] Intriguing.

[00:39:37] Wouldn't...

[00:39:38] I feel like the Yankees, if they really needed to, could have moved him to third, couldn't

[00:39:43] they?

[00:39:45] Because they had Donaldson at third.

[00:39:48] What else do the Yankees have at third?

[00:39:51] Not a lot of good guys.

[00:39:53] Right.

[00:39:53] Well, they traded for Jazz to play third because they did not have a third baseman.

[00:39:57] Right.

[00:39:59] Gleyber doesn't...

[00:40:00] He doesn't feel like a third baseman to me, but at this point, again, the Mariners are

[00:40:05] bordering on desperation.

[00:40:07] So if Gleyber Torres could play third and revive his offensive career, that would be extremely

[00:40:12] helpful, given the fact he also can't really play defense at second base.

[00:40:17] It's pretty atrocious.

[00:40:19] Gleyber Torres would help his coverage area to play at third.

[00:40:24] Could you...

[00:40:24] Text Gleyber and ask him.

[00:40:26] Could you get Ha-Sung Kim to play third?

[00:40:28] He's got a good arm.

[00:40:29] He could definitely play third.

[00:40:30] He's a shortstop.

[00:40:31] He could play third.

[00:40:33] Right.

[00:40:33] And then you could have Gleyber play second.

[00:40:35] Or, you could tell JP to move to second.

[00:40:38] Could try to put Gleyber back at short.

[00:40:41] No.

[00:40:42] I don't know how well that would go, but...

[00:40:44] I think JP Crawford is better.

[00:40:45] Still a better defensive shortstop than Gleyber is.

[00:40:48] Yeah, he is.

[00:40:50] So...

[00:40:50] I'm trying to be creative here, people.

[00:40:52] Yes.

[00:40:52] Exactly.

[00:40:53] And I would say, oh, Ha-Sung Kim doesn't hit enough for third base.

[00:40:56] But we've talked about it a couple times.

[00:40:57] The hitting at third base last year was really down.

[00:41:00] So that honestly wouldn't be...

[00:41:01] Wouldn't be that crazy.

[00:41:03] I think Ha-Sung would still be above average hitting for a third baseman.

[00:41:06] Yeah.

[00:41:07] And guys...

[00:41:07] He was, what, 95 WRC plus for third baseman last year?

[00:41:11] Yeah.

[00:41:11] And guys, again, Josh Rojas had a 550 OPS from May 15th until the end of the season.

[00:41:16] And he was playing third base.

[00:41:18] So...

[00:41:18] Or is not very high.

[00:41:19] No.

[00:41:20] All right.

[00:41:20] That would probably be the alignment that makes most sense.

[00:41:22] If you got those two guys, Ha-Sung Kim plays third once he gets back from injury.

[00:41:26] In the meantime, you have Dylan Moore and others try to play there and fill the void until

[00:41:32] he's back.

[00:41:33] You have Gleyber play second.

[00:41:35] JP plays short.

[00:41:37] And then if Cole Young's ready at some point, you figure out what to do with him.

[00:41:40] So let's think about in a realistic scenario for what the Mariners view is realistic for

[00:41:46] this upcoming season.

[00:41:46] To make that work, you would need to offload all of Castillo's money.

[00:41:50] So you would then at that point have, what, $38 million available?

[00:41:57] Gleyber would cost $18 million.

[00:41:59] Ha-Sung Kim...

[00:42:00] I forget exactly what his market is.

[00:42:02] Gleyber's not costing $18 million a year.

[00:42:05] A year?

[00:42:05] Yeah, he might.

[00:42:06] Not after the season he just had.

[00:42:08] Yeah, he still might.

[00:42:09] He's young.

[00:42:11] Uh, he'd probably...

[00:42:12] What would you say?

[00:42:13] 15?

[00:42:14] I was gonna say from 12 to 14.

[00:42:17] I would say it starts at 15 for him.

[00:42:20] I think he made almost that much in arbitration.

[00:42:23] This past year?

[00:42:25] Well, that was after a good season.

[00:42:27] Still.

[00:42:28] But 15 sounds like a decent chunk of change.

[00:42:31] All right, let's settle a...

[00:42:32] I don't know.

[00:42:32] Let's do 15.

[00:42:34] All right.

[00:42:35] I think 15 for a 27-year-old first baseman's not the craziest thing in the world.

[00:42:40] So, Ha-Sung is gonna be around the same number, I think.

[00:42:42] About 15.

[00:42:43] So, those two combined would be 30.

[00:42:45] You'd have $8 million left.

[00:42:46] And you'd have Luis Castillo off your roster.

[00:42:48] Does that make you better?

[00:42:51] No.

[00:42:53] Okay.

[00:42:54] Probably not.

[00:42:57] Can you...

[00:42:58] So...

[00:42:58] Can you offload...

[00:42:59] Can you offload Hanegger's money, trade the prospect, and then sign those two?

[00:43:06] Yeah, uh...

[00:43:07] So, what?

[00:43:08] The 15 and a half...

[00:43:09] So, that would give you...

[00:43:10] 30.

[00:43:11] I mean, that would be right up against the budget.

[00:43:12] I think they need to clear a little bit more than that.

[00:43:15] You know what?

[00:43:16] They can deal with it and spend an extra 2 million bucks.

[00:43:19] Okay, dog, but we're talking in reality.

[00:43:23] Is it really that unrealistic to say they don't have an extra 2 million dollars to spend on this?

[00:43:27] Well, you're asking them to do something you know they won't do.

[00:43:31] Fine, I'm yelling at you.

[00:43:32] You know they don't, like, they won't leave themselves with a zero budget.

[00:43:37] Fine.

[00:43:37] I'm screaming into the...

[00:43:38] That's not a thing.

[00:43:39] I'm screaming into the abyss yet again.

[00:43:42] Yeah.

[00:43:42] So, if they move Hanegger's money, then they might as well move someone else's money too.

[00:43:49] I guess.

[00:43:50] I feel like at 30 million dollars, you could get both those guys signed.

[00:43:54] Right, and you leave...

[00:43:55] If you manage to get those two guys signed and leave yourself 4 million dollars in season, or maybe more,

[00:44:01] create a little bit more, or say the budget goes up slightly,

[00:44:06] then you'd be fine.

[00:44:07] Because they want to leave themselves space in season, as Jerry always talks about, to go add in season.

[00:44:14] Yeah.

[00:44:15] So, I'm kind of...

[00:44:17] Yeah, this offseason's really been depressing so far.

[00:44:20] If it was easy, I wonder how Mitch Hanegger's market is to offload that money.

[00:44:25] Like, do people really not want any prospects, period, at this point?

[00:44:29] I feel like if I'm a GM, and someone's offering me someone in the Mariners' top 15 prospects

[00:44:35] to take on 15 million dollars of Mitch Hanegger, I feel like I'd say yes at this point.

[00:44:41] If you're Chris Getz and the White Sox, you should absolutely say yes,

[00:44:44] because it's for one year of Hanegger, and if you're trying to rebuild,

[00:44:48] your team's going to be bad this year anyway, and if you get Harry Ford, for example,

[00:44:51] why would you say no?

[00:44:53] Well, the White Sox said they don't want to add payroll.

[00:44:57] That's why.

[00:45:00] If they got the right prospect, they might do it for a year.

[00:45:03] Well, no, you remember they literally went on TV and said that.

[00:45:07] When was that again?

[00:45:09] In, like, in August?

[00:45:11] Well, it's a good thing they signed Andrew Benintendi and signed, who else have they signed

[00:45:16] that were moronic contracts?

[00:45:19] Uh, Yosemite Grandal, I think is still being paid.

[00:45:24] Well, again, we know that we talked about this on Wednesday, but we know the Marlins are adding,

[00:45:28] have to add payroll.

[00:45:30] That one, like, please, just take them.

[00:45:33] Right.

[00:45:34] So that's another.

[00:45:35] Get a free prospect.

[00:45:36] Sure.

[00:45:37] That's another.

[00:45:38] You trade Harry Ford and Hanegger to the Marlins.

[00:45:41] If we knew the list, the MLPA's lists of teams that were threatened with grievances for not

[00:45:48] spending enough money, this would be a little bit easier of an exercise.

[00:45:51] We talked about the Blue Jays example, but if they were to trade him to the Blue Jays,

[00:45:55] we'd want a player back.

[00:45:56] Because we'd just, like, it's like, all right, time for Boba Shett.

[00:45:59] Right.

[00:46:00] Right, exactly.

[00:46:01] But that doesn't shed salary, that offset salary.

[00:46:04] But if they're going to get Boba Shett, then we don't need to talk about adding Ha-Sung Kim or Glaber.

[00:46:09] Well, you could still add Ha-Sung Kim to play third.

[00:46:11] You could add one of them and then fill the other spot with Bo.

[00:46:16] There you go.

[00:46:18] That'd be an okay offseason.

[00:46:21] That's solving issues.

[00:46:23] Well, is it?

[00:46:25] Because Boba Shett, again, had an awful year last year.

[00:46:28] But, yes, you're hoping he bounces back.

[00:46:30] Again, like, what else?

[00:46:32] What else are you suggesting?

[00:46:34] I don't know.

[00:46:36] They should have signed Shohei last winter.

[00:46:39] You said the one for 65 is still on the table.

[00:46:43] Yeah.

[00:46:44] All right, should we end this episode by reading a couple of pieces of fan mail?

[00:46:47] Because now I'm starting to yell, which kind of fits right in with some of these emails that we've gotten from fans as of late.

[00:46:54] Yeah, we can end this on a high note.

[00:46:55] Which one do you want to start with?

[00:46:56] You start reading the most recent one we got, and I'll finish it off.

[00:47:03] Well, let's see.

[00:47:04] We got fan mail.

[00:47:05] I'll leave the name out of this.

[00:47:06] Yeah.

[00:47:06] I'll leave it anonymous.

[00:47:08] But we did get up eight days ago.

[00:47:11] Got a lovely email from a devoted listener who loves the pod.

[00:47:18] And was a little bit fed up.

[00:47:22] And was essentially giving us – I will say this email was beautifully formatted.

[00:47:26] It's like a school essay, Lyle.

[00:47:28] That's how I would say it.

[00:47:30] It's like when you email your teacher your project, it's like you got the lead.

[00:47:34] You got your mid-paragraphs.

[00:47:35] Then you have your conclusion.

[00:47:36] Like that's what this is.

[00:47:40] It's just a couple of good parts of this.

[00:47:44] Just trying to run through the revenue of how the Mariners have the second most amount of profit this upcoming season.

[00:47:53] That the Mariners are wasting a golden opportunity.

[00:47:56] Excuses aren't a strategy.

[00:47:58] Fans have heard it all before.

[00:47:59] He mentions the quote, step back to step up.

[00:48:03] Quote, we'll invest when the team is ready.

[00:48:05] Quote, big free agent deals aren't a smart strategy.

[00:48:08] Notes that, Lyle, according to the Scrooge Index, the Mariners are number three among MLB's top 15 revenue-generating teams when it comes to not spending the revenue they have.

[00:48:20] But this last paragraph is the golden one.

[00:48:26] It says, fans are ready to rally.

[00:48:28] But how?

[00:48:29] Beyond boycotts and bailing on games, how can they take a more active, organized stance?

[00:48:35] And how can we spotlight this issue?

[00:48:39] Together, this emailer says, let's drive a maximum pressure campaign to hold ownership accountable by educating them on the profits first versus penance mentality of M's ownership.

[00:48:54] Mariners don't need to step back.

[00:48:56] They need to step up, and the fans are watching.

[00:49:01] How was my narrator voice?

[00:49:03] That was pretty good.

[00:49:04] I get you didn't want to read the entire thing, but there is a lot of good stuff in here.

[00:49:09] He says, I think you guys are the perfect platform to put maximum pressure on M's ownership through your passionate listeners.

[00:49:16] Guys, like, first off, I appreciate you think we have so much power.

[00:49:21] Number two, I don't think we've been short in saying how fed up we and the entire fan base are with this stupid payroll.

[00:49:28] So, you know, I think we've done our part, I'd like to think.

[00:49:31] Like, so I would say for us, I'm like, what else?

[00:49:35] How much more pressure could we possibly put on?

[00:49:39] Yeah, exactly.

[00:49:41] I think I think we've said a lot.

[00:49:42] So and for good reason.

[00:49:44] But I did love where he highlighted here.

[00:49:46] The excuses aren't a strategy section where he said, yeah, fans have heard it all before.

[00:49:51] Step back to step up.

[00:49:52] We'll invest when the team's ready.

[00:49:54] Yeah, you said big free agent deals aren't a smart strategy.

[00:49:56] Fifty four percent wins is optimal question or exclamation point.

[00:50:00] Yeah, haven't heard that one before.

[00:50:02] But yeah, so I think you summarized it pretty well.

[00:50:05] It was a very well formatted email with some fair points.

[00:50:09] And the line here underneath all these excuses to fans.

[00:50:13] This sounds less like a winning vision and more like a greatest hits album of blah, blah, blah.

[00:50:19] Wasn't that a Kesha song?

[00:50:22] Do you ever listen to Kesha?

[00:50:25] A little bit.

[00:50:26] Well, I know you said you didn't start listening to a lot of music until you got to high school.

[00:50:30] And that's when you started listening to more hip hop like senior year.

[00:50:32] There was a really popular Kesha song that I can't remember.

[00:50:35] Yeah, it was called tick tock.

[00:50:36] Yeah, that yeah, that one.

[00:50:38] I mean, there was there was a lot of Kesha songs in sixth, seventh grade.

[00:50:42] I listened to it.

[00:50:43] But she had a song, I'm pretty sure, called blah, blah, blah.

[00:50:46] So maybe that's what this emailer is saying here.

[00:50:48] It might be.

[00:50:49] But if this listener is listening, he'll know who it is that we're talking about him.

[00:50:55] Nice job.

[00:50:55] It was a very, very well done email.

[00:50:58] Very well done email.

[00:50:59] Hey, and you guys know, too, if you guys have thoughts for us, it's like, hey, I've got some ideas.

[00:51:06] I want to send some fan mail into the show for you guys to read.

[00:51:09] Obviously, you guys will send mailbag questions sometimes.

[00:51:11] But if you have fan mail like this, send it to us.

[00:51:14] Email to us.

[00:51:15] You can DM it to us if you really want.

[00:51:16] It'll probably be a little long, but you could DM it if you want.

[00:51:19] All right.

[00:51:20] While we're reading fan mail.

[00:51:21] Here's marine layer pod at gmail.com.

[00:51:23] Marine layer pod at gmail.com.

[00:51:26] Yes, correct.

[00:51:27] Marine layer pod at gmail.com.

[00:51:28] It's also in all our descriptions.

[00:51:30] If you guys forget at some point, you need to go back and look.

[00:51:33] It's in all our YouTube descriptions.

[00:51:34] It's in all the audio descriptions.

[00:51:36] So you can find it.

[00:51:36] And you guys know you can DM it to us on social platforms, social media platforms, too.

[00:51:41] All right.

[00:51:42] While we're reading fan mail, I was reminded of this hilarious email we got.

[00:51:48] It was actually shortly after the season ended.

[00:51:51] But paired with reading the other fan mail, I remembered how great this email was.

[00:51:56] We meant to read it at the time.

[00:51:57] But I think we ended up getting sidetracked with some other more important topics.

[00:52:01] So we never had a chance to read it on the on a show.

[00:52:04] And now we're going to.

[00:52:05] This is this one made me laugh out loud as I read it through.

[00:52:10] And this one.

[00:52:12] Hat tip.

[00:52:13] So here's what he said.

[00:52:15] I like.

[00:52:15] So you summarize a little bit of the last one.

[00:52:17] I'm going to read this one through if that's all right.

[00:52:19] So.

[00:52:19] Okay.

[00:52:19] So here's what it says.

[00:52:22] Hello, TJ and Lyle.

[00:52:23] Below is my email to Chairman Stanton sent on the last day of the season.

[00:52:28] And attached is the email I sent on opening day.

[00:52:32] Enjoy the reads.

[00:52:33] I just discovered the Marine Layer pod a few weeks ago.

[00:52:35] Not sure how I missed it previously.

[00:52:37] The content is great.

[00:52:38] Well, we appreciate it.

[00:52:39] Thank you.

[00:52:39] Thank you for listening.

[00:52:41] Attached is the email that was sent.

[00:52:45] That's titled.

[00:52:46] Congratulations with exclamation points in the subject box.

[00:52:50] Sent to what he claims to be John Stanton.

[00:52:54] And CC'd in the email is.

[00:52:58] Larry Stone.

[00:53:00] Adam Jude.

[00:53:00] Ryan Divish.

[00:53:01] Mike Varel.

[00:53:03] Who's also at the Seattle Times.

[00:53:04] Now, Matt Calkins.

[00:53:06] Jerry DePoto.

[00:53:07] So he says.

[00:53:08] I have no idea if that's his actual email or not.

[00:53:10] Kevin Martinez.

[00:53:12] Lookout Landing.

[00:53:13] And a couple others.

[00:53:14] So he has CC'd a lot of people in this email.

[00:53:17] So.

[00:53:18] So he.

[00:53:19] In hopes of it getting seen.

[00:53:21] And.

[00:53:22] Here's what he says.

[00:53:24] Let's see how much of this I can get through without laughing.

[00:53:27] Hello, Chairman Stanton.

[00:53:30] I'm already laughing at the first line.

[00:53:32] Here we go.

[00:53:33] Hello, Chairman Stanton.

[00:53:34] Congratulations on a successful season.

[00:53:37] You achieved your goal.

[00:53:38] Well.

[00:53:39] The team played to the last homestand mathematically in the playoff race.

[00:53:43] While never really having a chance to make it.

[00:53:46] Just good enough to keep fans interested in paying for tickets and all supplementary items.

[00:53:50] Without ownership of having to spend the money to actually field a playoff caliber team.

[00:53:55] Well.

[00:53:56] Well.

[00:53:57] One graph in.

[00:53:58] And like.

[00:54:00] I'm feeling a lot of.

[00:54:01] He's out of line.

[00:54:02] But he's right in that graph.

[00:54:05] Hard to argue any of those points.

[00:54:07] Yeah.

[00:54:08] Another year.

[00:54:09] As we keep reading.

[00:54:10] Another year of short term profit maximizing.

[00:54:14] And the team didn't even need to be good enough to win 54% of their games.

[00:54:17] Well played, sir.

[00:54:19] With an exclamation point.

[00:54:20] He goes on to say.

[00:54:22] Well.

[00:54:22] As noted in my email to you on opening day.

[00:54:25] Which is attached.

[00:54:26] Not all fans are buying this crap.

[00:54:29] Some of us are sick and tired of being sick and tired.

[00:54:32] We know a con when we see one.

[00:54:35] And we are not buying in.

[00:54:36] Alright.

[00:54:36] Now he's starting to get a little mad.

[00:54:38] He's gone from.

[00:54:39] He's gone from surface level anger.

[00:54:41] To now you're really starting to feel the anger just kick in.

[00:54:44] So.

[00:54:45] As we keep going.

[00:54:47] I for one.

[00:54:48] A fan.

[00:54:49] It's funny.

[00:54:49] Before I even keep going.

[00:54:50] This feels like we're doing the whole Ryan Russillo thing.

[00:54:52] Reading life advice emails right now.

[00:54:54] Except it's just pissed off Mariner fans emails.

[00:54:56] This is funny.

[00:54:56] This is fun.

[00:54:57] I'm going to keep going.

[00:54:58] I for one.

[00:54:59] A fan that used to attend 25 to 40 games a year.

[00:55:02] Attended by far my least number of games since Safeco slash T-Mobile opened in 1999.

[00:55:07] I don't think I made it to double digits.

[00:55:10] I am a.

[00:55:11] I am part of a growing number of disgruntled fans that are no longer willing to donate money.

[00:55:16] So they can feel the mediocre team and pay lip service.

[00:55:20] That the goal is to win when it is plain as day.

[00:55:23] The goal is to maximize short term profit.

[00:55:25] It keeps going again.

[00:55:26] This email is not done.

[00:55:28] Keeping to my word that email I sent you on opening day.

[00:55:31] Not a dime trickled through directly to the owner's bank account.

[00:55:34] And here's why.

[00:55:35] He says with three bullet points.

[00:55:37] All my tickets were purchased off the street.

[00:55:40] I purchased nothing at the concession stand during the game.

[00:55:44] And I canceled my Root Sports subscription prior to the season.

[00:55:47] Well, I hate to break it to this guy.

[00:55:49] But if you're buying tickets off the street, they are still pocketing money as an organization.

[00:55:54] Because somebody has to buy those tickets.

[00:55:57] Am I right?

[00:55:58] Just he's saying it's not his money.

[00:56:01] It's either the resale service or the person who purchased the tickets before that put the money into ownership's pockets.

[00:56:09] He's saying none of my own dollars went into their pocket.

[00:56:13] Well, I guess by technicality, yeah.

[00:56:16] The money, regardless of if he bought those tickets or not, would have gone into their pockets.

[00:56:22] Right.

[00:56:23] As he continues to keep going.

[00:56:24] For the first time since she was born, I did not buy my daughter any Mariner's gear.

[00:56:28] Though she is proudly wearing her Philly gear.

[00:56:30] Geez.

[00:56:31] Geez.

[00:56:32] I'm getting so tied into this email.

[00:56:35] My voice is cracking.

[00:56:36] Though she's proudly wearing her Philly gear from her mom's side of the family, this touches on why I say short-term profit.

[00:56:42] Because there is an example of just one lifelong fan you are losing at an early age due to your nearsighted focus on your short-term profit goals.

[00:56:50] My daughter proudly answers in quotes,

[00:56:53] Because they stink when I asked why the Mariners are losing while she is proudly wearing that white P and red jersey knowing full well the Phillies won that day.

[00:57:02] You lost one, Stanton.

[00:57:04] I am sure you lost a lot more than just one.

[00:57:07] Okay.

[00:57:08] Again, as much as I'd love to say that this email is just filled with facts,

[00:57:15] I have a hard time believing your daughter, who I believe is a very young age from the email,

[00:57:21] just happened to wake up one day and says,

[00:57:24] I'm tired of this team not maximizing on their window and putting an emphasis on short-term profits.

[00:57:32] Therefore, I'm no longer a fan of the team.

[00:57:34] I have a hard time believing she has, like, that she's, like, far along enough to say, yeah, that's my take.

[00:57:42] She might just be to the point where she likes the Phillies' colors more than the Mariners' colors.

[00:57:48] However, Lyle, if it fits the narrative, then...

[00:57:52] If it fits the narrative, it fits the narrative.

[00:57:53] I'm just trying to set the narrative straight.

[00:57:54] This is the emailer trying to sway his kid another way.

[00:57:58] I don't think it is the independent mind saying,

[00:58:01] I'm tired of this ownership group maximizing short-term profits.

[00:58:05] I have a hard time believing that one.

[00:58:07] Now, I will say for the emailer, he did his part and he didn't buy any gear.

[00:58:12] No, he didn't.

[00:58:13] He did not.

[00:58:13] So, as he keeps going,

[00:58:15] From a historic perspective, this season was an all-time failure.

[00:58:19] There is no question decision makers should be losing their jobs.

[00:58:21] I am not talking about a scapegoat manager or coach.

[00:58:24] No, front office.

[00:58:25] They got to go, is what he says.

[00:58:29] This team had by far the best pitching staff in the league.

[00:58:32] They were healthy all year, incredibly inexpensive.

[00:58:34] Across the street, with the advantage of a young team with key positions filled by healthy and expensive talent,

[00:58:38] they parlayed that opportunity into two Super Bowl appearances and one Lombardi trophy.

[00:58:42] You guys can't even make the freaking playoffs.

[00:58:45] Well, I thought he was about to say this current version of the Seahawks,

[00:58:47] which I would not say they are exactly capitalizing on a window.

[00:58:50] They're in the same bucket as the M's right now.

[00:58:54] The Seahawks aren't short on spending money,

[00:58:56] but it's not like they're going on to win Super Bowls these days.

[00:58:59] The only thing they cheap out on is an offensive line.

[00:59:01] But anyways.

[00:59:02] Yeah, that's for a different podcast.

[00:59:05] No team with the best pitching staff in the league that is healthy and inexpensive

[00:59:08] should be golfing before the calendar flips to October.

[00:59:11] Then he goes to all capital letters.

[00:59:12] Now he's turning into Skip Bayless.

[00:59:14] That is failure, is what he says.

[00:59:17] These windows open for a short time.

[00:59:18] They should not be missed because the window may not be open again for some time.

[00:59:22] The most obvious failure was this,

[00:59:24] identified by most anyone with a brain this offseason, he says,

[00:59:27] where he now conveniently highlights Gino and Tao going off with other organizations.

[00:59:32] He was kind enough to screenshot their stats and send them in the email,

[00:59:36] which I'm glad he highlighted that for everybody in the Mariners organization to see.

[00:59:42] I'm sure they didn't know.

[00:59:46] Is that the whole email?

[00:59:47] Oh no, he keeps going.

[00:59:48] Okay.

[00:59:49] Oh yeah, he keeps going.

[00:59:50] Here, I'll wrap this up quickly here.

[00:59:54] Yeah, he says about those stats.

[00:59:55] Epic failure.

[00:59:56] You're not fooling anyone this offseason.

[00:59:57] Replacing good vibes only.

[00:59:58] Didn't provide good vibes, et cetera, et cetera.

[01:00:02] Okay.

[01:00:02] There's one more, there's more, one more long or not a long paragraph, but paragraph.

[01:00:07] And he says, I understand your hyper focus on short-term profit.

[01:00:11] I disagree with it and I'm no longer supporting the team because of it.

[01:00:15] Why do you continue to allow the club to be run by an incompetent front office?

[01:00:20] He says, no.

[01:00:24] All right.

[01:00:24] I'm just going to read it.

[01:00:25] These people are the JD Vance of baseball.

[01:00:27] They're just weird is what they say.

[01:00:30] All right.

[01:00:31] So, so now he's, now he's going into another walk of life and into a different area.

[01:00:37] But anyway, then he gets back on, on rails, on track here.

[01:00:40] He says the way he handled the firing of his, of his good friend.

[01:00:44] I think now he's talking about Jerry should have been the nail in the coffin.

[01:00:46] This after he revealed to the world last off season that the goal of the club is to maximize short-term profit by winning 54% of their games.

[01:00:52] And he tries to explain what 54% means, you know, loudly announced anyone listening to the Mariners were going to go after Otani, not once, but twice when we were not even in the conversation either time.

[01:01:03] How sad and pathetic.

[01:01:04] I am happy for the side of my family that's rooting for the Phillies.

[01:01:07] I'm happy my daughter can grow up and root for a team that does not stink.

[01:01:10] Signed, former fan.

[01:01:12] Well, he really took some time typing this email out.

[01:01:16] I hope evil with the organization.

[01:01:19] So I, otherwise like us, he may just be yelling into an abyss.

[01:01:23] I just have one big question.

[01:01:25] Does John Stanton check his Mariners email?

[01:01:28] Does Jerry DePoto check his Mariners email?

[01:01:32] Again, who knows if that's even their actual emails, whatever he's wherever.

[01:01:36] Oh, I'm sure it is.

[01:01:37] They have to have a company email.

[01:01:40] So it's just a question of if they look at the company email or not.

[01:01:44] Yeah, who knows?

[01:01:45] I mean, but again, that's also...

[01:01:48] Shout out to this listener.

[01:01:49] First of all, thanks for listening.

[01:01:51] Second of all, it was very well written, very well thought out.

[01:01:54] I think like that is essentially a long form version of most of our comment section these days.

[01:02:01] And every day, I'm serious.

[01:02:04] Like this is me just speaking in all honesty.

[01:02:06] And people in the org could be listening, could not be listening.

[01:02:10] I don't know.

[01:02:11] But like this is really how people feel.

[01:02:12] Like that is one long drawn out version of how people feel at this organization.

[01:02:17] And the fact we have now nearly reached 2025 and there's not been a single upgrade on the roster for a team that's supposed to be in the middle of a contention window is going to lead people to feel like that.

[01:02:30] Like how else are people supposed to feel?

[01:02:31] Right.

[01:02:32] Now, I will say the calling for...

[01:02:34] When you get into the realm of calling for every single person ever to be fired, that's when you start to lose people because that makes it sound like you're not really making a cohesive argument.

[01:02:45] However, to your general point of fans are really pissed off and getting really, really antsy and on edge and frustrated, all that is totally warranted.

[01:02:54] Warranted.

[01:02:55] You end a drought in 22.

[01:02:56] You don't capitalize on it.

[01:02:58] You miss the playoffs each of the next two years.

[01:03:00] You continue to run out the same strategy where you're not really investing the necessary resources in a big league offense.

[01:03:06] Yeah.

[01:03:06] And you continue to miss the playoffs.

[01:03:08] Of course, fans are going to get frustrated.

[01:03:10] What else can they do?

[01:03:11] Well, in the secondary storylines from this past season where he notes that he felt like Scott Service got scapegoated a little bit and that there wasn't, he said, real responsibility for some of the failures that went on within the organization.

[01:03:24] And trying to act like there are parts where they don't feel like there is an issue there where in some people's view, there is an issue there.

[01:03:31] Right.

[01:03:31] And it stinks because as a fan, like this is probably the most you could do.

[01:03:35] Like he said, like, or as our first emailer said, like, sure, you could just not show up to games.

[01:03:40] But think about that.

[01:03:42] Like how many people would have to like not show up to games for that to be even like a thing.

[01:03:48] So you need to you need to do like what this fan is trying to trying to articulate is it's like like I'm just giving you a real world example of how I feel in this moment and how like how it affects people in my family.

[01:04:02] Yeah, no, definitely.

[01:04:03] And he is not alone.

[01:04:05] Like you said, that is sadly most of our comments these days.

[01:04:09] There was a point in time, believe it or not, where a lot of our comments actually leaned pretty positive.

[01:04:17] There was a time where people were pretty upbeat these days.

[01:04:21] Needle in a haystack.

[01:04:23] And it's like a little frustrating for us because we try and, you know, we're trying to have a discussion about what things the Mariners can do.

[01:04:30] And there are and people are allowed to think whatever they want.

[01:04:34] It's just a large swath of people who it's just instantaneous.

[01:04:37] Whenever we post something, it's Mariners aren't going to do anything.

[01:04:40] Right.

[01:04:41] They're not going to spend any money.

[01:04:42] They're going to make no moves.

[01:04:43] They're going to be awful.

[01:04:44] It's just going to be the same old story.

[01:04:45] That's just their triggered response.

[01:04:47] And, yeah, it's a little hard for us because we're trying to talk about topics that are relevant.

[01:04:53] We also want to talk about things that, you know, could happen.

[01:04:57] Trying to be creative with ways the team could improve the roster throughout the offseason.

[01:05:02] But you also know that you have a listenership and a fan base that wants to hear certain things.

[01:05:10] Unfortunately, what the majority of this fan base seems to want to hear about at this point is just why they don't spend, why they're not investing, why, you know, why they continue to just have these same problems.

[01:05:21] Like, that seems to be what people grasp onto these days.

[01:05:25] And sadly, I don't know if those people are going to change their opinions until there are physical transactions that really move the needle of the team.

[01:05:34] Time's ticking.

[01:05:36] Time is ticking.

[01:05:38] Well, we will have one more show in 2024 before this.

[01:05:44] Well, you got to ask the question again.

[01:05:47] Are the Mariners going to make a transaction before our next episode?

[01:05:49] We're going to keep doing this.

[01:05:51] Well, you cut me off.

[01:05:52] I was getting ready.

[01:05:53] I'm getting ready.

[01:05:54] We have one episode left in 2024.

[01:05:57] Are the Mariners going to make a transaction before our next show?

[01:06:03] So I said no last time.

[01:06:05] I'll keep it on a roll.

[01:06:06] I'll say no.

[01:06:07] I'll also say no.

[01:06:09] Because right now, we're playing with house money.

[01:06:11] We just keep putting our chips on red and it keeps hitting.

[01:06:17] We have not lost on roulette yet.

[01:06:19] Either we jinx it or we're right.

[01:06:22] Right.

[01:06:23] Exactly.

[01:06:24] We just keep taking home money because we keep placing bets correctly.

[01:06:29] Oh, well, I'm sure we'll have some things to talk about Wednesday one way or another.

[01:06:34] It'll be two years of the podcast on Wednesday.

[01:06:38] Well, what?

[01:06:39] Are you sure about that?

[01:06:40] Well, no, but there'll be something.

[01:06:43] There'll be something.

[01:06:44] But hey, at the very least, we can talk about, we can do a little end of year recap.

[01:06:47] I'm sure on Wednesday's episode because that'll be two years of the podcast.

[01:06:51] I'll recap another full year doing this thing.

[01:06:53] So we can spend some time talking about that.

[01:06:55] And hopefully paired with that, the Mariners will do something too.

[01:06:58] That'd be great.

[01:07:00] So that just about wraps up this edition of the Marine Layer Podcast.

[01:07:04] You guys know the drill.

[01:07:05] If you want to listen to the full form podcast, you can do so wherever you get your audio pods.

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[01:07:30] Blue Sky, at Marine Layer Pod.

[01:07:33] That's TJ.

[01:07:34] I'm Lyle.

[01:07:34] As always, we thank you guys for tuning in.

[01:07:36] We'll talk to you soon.