Episode 204: What Can The Mariners Do After Alex Bregman Signs? + Reacting To The Effects That T-Mobile Park Has On Hitters

[00:00:00] Welcome to episode number 204 of the Marine Layer Podcast. Alex Bregman seems like he's ready to choose his free agent destination. That could shake loose something for the Mariners. Who's it going to be? We'll discuss all the options. We'll also talk about an article that came out on MLB.com today on Monday, talking about the T-Mobile Park effect and why it's so hard to score runs in Seattle.

[00:00:24] You guys reminded before we start the show, make sure to download, subscribe, rate and review everywhere. Well, I guess there's no subscribing on the audio side. That's fine. If you're on the audio side, download, rate and review five stars, like, comment, subscribe on YouTube, follow us across social media everywhere. We're on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube shorts, Blue Sky. We're posting every day at Marine Layer Pod. Let's get it rolling.

[00:00:47] And we welcome you to this episode of the Marine Layer Podcast, part of the Just Baseball Podcast Network, recording on Monday evening, January 27th. Do I have it right, Lyle? Alex Bregman is not considering the Mariners.

[00:01:15] That would require them making an offer. Well, who said they didn't offer him 15 years for $15? You know, I hadn't thought about that till right now. If that ever came out, could you imagine? It'd be pretty funny. Could you imagine? Could you imagine the tweets? Mariners did put out offer for Alex Bregman, and Scott Boris lets it loose that it was 15 years for $15 million.

[00:01:46] Even if they didn't offer that, I feel like that'd be something Scott Boris would make up. Just, just cause. Well, we know he really loves the Mariners. And we know he loves a good media store. And that's why he's dragging Alex Bregman out so long. How silly is it that Alex Bregman's still on the market? How silly is it that he might now return to Houston? So Ryan Presley, in case you missed it, the Astros reliever was traded to the Chicago Cubs.

[00:02:16] They were able to free up some salary. Presley was going to get paid $14 million this year. So he heads to Chicago. Lyle and I, at that point, instantly assume that Alex Bregman's going to be a Houston Astro. And then, I think he should still be an Astro. It definitely makes the most sense. I think they've guaranteed him the most years out of any of the suitors. But classical Scott Boris Lyle, he says, ha! Six years? No, we're not taking that.

[00:02:46] Even though that's clearly what Alex Bregman's going to get at this point. So Alex Bregman is sitting here playing chicken with about four different franchises. And this could potentially help out the Mariners. Unless, of course, he signs with Houston. Man, if he signs with the Astros. If he signs with the Astros. Go tell, like, us at the beginning of this offseason. Just start with this sentence here. Kyle Tucker will get traded. And Lyle goes, ha!

[00:03:16] And then you'll follow that up and say, well, not to the Mariners. He goes, ha! And then you're going to say, oh, by the way, even though the Astros did that, they're still the AL West favorites. I'd be pretty pissed. Do you get to follow that up with the Mariners entering the month of February at this point? It seems like that's where we're headed. So I'm jumping to a little bit of a conclusion. The Mariners entering the month of February. We'll have made one move. And it's one year for $3 million for Donovan Solano.

[00:03:46] Three and a half, sorry. I don't think people have been very happy, Lyle. Hmm. Seems like they may have misjudged the market. I got to tell you. Really? Well, I got to tell you. I'm starting to think the Rizzler got some bad information. Remember at the beginning of the offseason when we tweeted out our graphics saying, you know, according to the Rizzler, who had some credible information and leaked it to us, here's his offseason plan for the Mariners in blueprint that seems pretty logical to me. It seems like it's going to happen. And who was in it?

[00:04:15] It was Kyle Tucker, Vladi Jr., Alex Bregman, and Willie Adamas. I'm starting to think that's not going to happen. And I rated it on a scale of one to five booms. I think it got five booms. Yeah. That one did get five booms. But that was also after you suggested that the Mariners' first, second, and third baseman were going to be A.J., Big Justice, and the Rizzler. Do you think Mariner fans will take that at this point? It would sell tickets.

[00:04:44] It would get people off the park. It would sell tickets. It would be more entertaining than what they currently have. Somebody on this roster needs to use We Bring the Boom as their walk-up song. Do you want to play a fun game? It depends on what it is. We played this game earlier. Earlier today. So you might know what I'm talking about. You about to pull up A.J.'s high school baseball stats, if they even exist? No, no, no. Not that one. Wow, we're going to read through the Mariners' infield.

[00:05:15] Mm-hmm. I sometimes forget who's currently on the roster and what state the roster is. I need something to ground myself to process what we're about to talk about in this episode, which is hopefully the Mariners acquiring a real player to play every day in their infield in 2025, given they don't really have those players right now. So I always need a reminder. Because otherwise, I think it gets overlooked a little bit.

[00:05:41] The Mariners' current infielders is listed on MLB.com. Ryan Bliss, J.P. Crawford, Tyler Locklear, Miles Mastroboni, Dylan Moore, Leo Rivas, Austin Chenton, and Donovan Solano. So the most proven guy on that infield is somebody who had an 87 OPS plus last year in J.P. Crawford?

[00:06:11] Yes. And then the other one also was a below average hitter last year in Dylan Moore, who, by the way, is probably a better left fielder than he is an infielder. Maybe not last year, but I think in his career he is. Right? Then the other most veteran piece is a 37-year-old. And then the rest of them, Miles Mastroboni has played parts of seasons in the big leagues,

[00:06:37] and everyone else has not played a full season in Major League Baseball. So, in case anyone needed a reminder as we go talk about more infielders today of where the Mariners are at and what I hope Jerry and Justin and John are sitting at a whiteboard and looking at and saying, man, that infield group. I love those guys, but... Jerry and Justin probably are looking at a whiteboard and saying that.

[00:07:07] You think this ownership group's looking at that? No. I hope so. They're not. Let me just fast forward for you. They're not. So, our opening day, the Mariners' opening day infield right now, let's play a fun game here. So, Luke Raley slash Donovan Solano at first base. Ryan Bliss is going to play second. JP's going to be at short. Short. And then, let's take a pick at third baseman, Lyle.

[00:07:33] Let's set our starter biases and let's be authentic and straight up. Our options right now are Demo, Leo Rivas, or Austin Shen. Someone DM'd us, by the way, today and asked if Tyler Locklear could play third base. And, for everyone listening, if you would consider that, I think if the Mariners knew he could play third base, he'd be playing third base right now. Because they really need a third baseman who's ready for the big leagues.

[00:08:03] So, thank you, by the way, DMer, for sending us that. But, in case anyone was wondering about that, yeah, he's not going to play third base. So, anyways, Lyle, your pick of third base is? It's probably Demo. Demo at T-Mobile Park, though. What do you suggest instead that is not go sign Alex Bregman, which, yes, they should, but that's not a smart strategy. Boom! Eight minutes in. Do we play Miles Mastroboni at third base just so I can do this on opening day?

[00:08:33] Watch the YouTube, by the way, as you see him doing my Italian pinch the pinch and flop the wrist. Sounds like you need Dom and Mastroboni to hit back-to-back doubles. Is Dom even on this? Oh, he is. Yeah, he's in the outfielder group. Yeah. Well. But I don't know if it's a guarantee that he starts on the opening day roster. That's for sure. I would say probably not. Right. Right.

[00:09:00] I guess unless, depends on what happens with Hanager, then maybe he is. As the fourth outfielder. Yeah. But from everything the Mariners have told us, I want to see what Mitch looks like at spring training. So which, at the start of spring training with Lee Dom and AAA. Right. Right.

[00:09:48] So it's a fun exercise, guys. What are they going to say? They're going to tell us they believe in what they did at the end of the year last year. I would honestly salute them more if they said, yes, we did not do what we were supposed to do this offseason. They might say that. I think they might. Well, honestly. In a sense. In a way. They might not say. They might not just come out and say, we screwed up the offseason.

[00:10:18] It's like, we probably could have done more this offseason. I could see them saying that. Something like that. Now, I'm sure they're still going to have belief in their roster. Which, again, any baseball operations person of any organization would say that. Especially publicly. And you should, by the way. That's how you should operate. If you don't believe what you're doing, then why are you there in the first place?

[00:10:42] But if we also have to hear 15 straight minutes of rambling about how the last five weeks of the season are going to save the team. Well, no. They're not. We just highlighted that on Friday's podcast. And, again, if we have to remind people, you want to sell yourself on September. Then go, instead of having the other guys that were on the team last year playing in September.

[00:11:04] Fill it in instead with Leo Rivas, Dylan Moore, Luke Raley at first base or Solano or whatever. Bliss playing every day instead of the other options. Because the infield right now is worse than it was in September of last year. So, that's part of your contribution. That could change. There's still some time, but better change fast.

[00:11:30] But if you're going to ask me when Jerry DiPoto talks at some point of spring training about this offseason, that's what he's going to say. They're going to say they believe in the core and they believe what happened at the end of last year. Whether or not we believe it or not, that's what they believe. Right. Yeah, that's probably true. Should we talk about what they could still do after the Bregman signing here for a couple minutes? Because there's a couple ways these dominoes could fall. There could still be a move up the Mariners' sleeve.

[00:12:00] There also could be a world where there isn't, to put it lightly. And what I mean by that is it kind of depends on where Alex Bregman signs. If Alex Bregman signs with the Tigers, there's a route for the Mariners to add players. If Alex Bregman signs with the Cubs, there's a route for the Mariners to add a player. If he signs with the Astros, it's not even sugar-coated. They're fucked.

[00:12:29] Not just because he's back in the AL West, but because if you are banking on an Alex Bregman signing to then make a trade, which is so stupid, by the way, but I'm not going to go down that road again because we already did it on a previous episode. If you are banking on Alex Bregman to sign somewhere and then make a trade with said team that signs him that has a surplus of infielders, well, you better hope it's not Houston because you can make a trade with some other teams. You're not making a trade with Houston. Houston is not trading you any players of significance.

[00:13:00] And all within that, they add one of their stars back to their roster and easily have the most talented team in the AL West. So which of these options intrigue you the most? Of the Cubs, Tigers, and Red Sox? And I will say we've spent a lot of time talking about the Cubs and the Red Sox a little bit more than we spent time talking about the Tigers.

[00:13:25] If you're asking me which one intrigues me the most, it's the Cubs because you could go get Nico Horner, which is a perfect fit for this team where they desperately need a second baseman. So you're Nico Horner over Casas? I could be swayed either way, but just considering the Mariners already essentially have said that he's not a fit in this park, that's what Adam Jude told us, it doesn't feel like they're that interested in Casas. So where do I hope Bregman signs for the best possible outcome for Seattle?

[00:13:53] It's Cubs because it feels like they would be interested in Nico Horner. The options are based on Wary Lance specifically. So if Bregman goes to the Cubs, as we just talked about, we would imagine Nico Horner would be more available, especially with Ricketts going on the radio and essentially telling everyone in the Cubs fandom how much they want to break even, even though the Cubs make the third most money of any team in baseball and the owners complaining about breaking even.

[00:14:22] Anyways, if they sign Bregman, they most likely don't want to pay Nico Horner $12 million as an extra infielder on the roster, so they'd want to trade him away. If you trade for Nico, you'd be trading Castillo away to try and balance that money out a little bit. I think, maybe? Even if they sign Bregman, we could, that's not the point of this discussion. You try and get Nico Horner to help the Cubs out with their infield situation. The Red Sox sign them. They have a glutton of infielders.

[00:14:53] Bregman plays third. Rafi goes to first. Kostas is the odd man out. Tristan Kostas is more available and might be a better fit if he's at a better price. The Tigers options, we've mentioned before. Former first-round pick in 2022, Jace Young. And then our guy, Spencer Torkelson. Tank for Torque, baby. Another bit before this podcast even started. We talked about your Ishiro boycott story on Friday's episode.

[00:15:23] TJ and I, once the Mariners decided they were tearing it down and rebuilding after 2018, as two people who went to Arizona State and thought Spencer Torkelson was one of the best hitters we've ever watched, especially seeing him in person constantly, oh, we were rooting for the Mariners to lose every game in 2019 to try and tank for Torque and go get Spencer Torkelson. Now, it doesn't seem like that's exactly worked out because he has not been the big leaguer anybody's expected him to be so far.

[00:15:51] But if he gets a change of scenery, who knows? Maybe a new landing spot helps him. Mariners need a first baseman. I'll say, out of all of these options, based on the salary that is offloaded from the other team, Nico Horner seems like the best value add, based on what you need. You're right. Like, they need hitters with Casas, but as we'll talk about later in this episode,

[00:16:16] the impact of Casas would be lessened in T-Mobile Park relative to what it is at Fenway Park. Nico Horner doesn't rely on his bat quite as much, therefore his value would not be depressed as much. The other two are more upside swings with Detroit. I mean, Nico Horner could add four wins to this team and be a 105 WRC plus hitter. He does not have to tear it up at the plate to be of significant value to the Mariners. He just doesn't.

[00:16:47] If we're talking about Young and Torkelson, does either one intrigue you more? Probably Young because he plays more of a position of need right now. Look, would I like to see the Mariners get a real first baseman? Yes. I don't know if Spencer Torkelson qualifies as that right now because he just hasn't proven it enough as a big leaguer. Now, he's had a 30 home run season in his young big league career, but there's been a lot of ups and downs within all that as well, especially this past year in 2024.

[00:17:18] So who intrigues me more? Probably Young. I think he's probably got the higher upside as a prospect at this point. He was almost as equally as high of a draft pick as Torkelson was. He wasn't number one, but he went 12. And he plays second and third. He hasn't had very much time in the big leagues. In fact, it's been about a cup of coffee, roughly 30 games.

[00:17:39] And he would both build a position of need, have more club control, and could still be an impact bat for Seattle going forward. The club control is a big one. Torque has proven, though, that he has the ability to hit at the big league level. You don't hit 30 homers by accident. He's also got pretty good swing decisions. He walks at a decent clip. He's not a huge strikeout guy.

[00:18:05] It's above average, but Torque at his best is not supposed to be a strikeout guy. He just needs to figure out how he's hitting fastballs. Because that was the big drop-off he had from his good 2023 season to his poor, sent back down in AAA 2024 season. So if he can figure that out, he's had success hitting breaking balls in the big leagues. Hasn't been totally overmatched in that department. It's just been some struggles against velocity and just some struggles with consistency.

[00:18:35] And unfortunately for him, he doesn't bring much value on defense. So it's really, it's hit or bust with Spencer Torkelson. But unlike Young, he has proven he can hang in the big leagues if things are going right. Which is something the Mariners would like if they were looking between these two. It's like, oh, well one has, A, plays a position in need. Torque, they don't have a right-handed hitting first base hit on the roster. So Torque would fill that. But, and they'll also say, well, he has done it at the big leagues.

[00:19:03] And by the way, not a very hitter-friendly park. At least not for home runs, by the way. 31 home runs in one of the biggest ballparks in baseball, distance-wise. So if you were to move, sorry, if you were to trade for Torque, you would move Raley either back to the outfield or they just platoon and Raley would move around. It would probably be a platoon. And by the way, Torque would be a lot cheaper than getting Jace Young.

[00:19:29] And the upside at the plate, because to be honest, we're talking about what these guys can bring to the Mariners' offense. Right. That's it. Jace Young might be a better defender and more valuable on the left side of the infield. But they're not trading for him to play defense. They're trading for him to stick him in the lineup and hit for the years to come if they're going after him. And if Torque's going to be cheaper and still fills a position of need and you can make Lyle and I happy, I think that's an easy decision.

[00:19:59] Oh, from an emotional standpoint, I'd be fired up to see Torque in Seattle. Just because, again, you guys should have seen this dude play in college. And maybe some of you did. But it was unbelievable what we'd watch him do. And we watched him do it with a wood bat, too, in the Cape League. He wasn't some metal bat merchant. He could flat out hit. And he looked like he was destined to be a constant 30-plus home run guy in the big leagues. Anyway, I keep looking at the club control, one.

[00:20:27] And two, Jace Young is not a guy who's relied on a ton of power in his minor league career. This is a guy who's decent, like a decent bat-to-ball guy. He hit 14 to 15 home runs a year in the minors. But he's not some guy that is like Torque where you are fully reliant on power. Because Torque's had swing and miss problems since he's been a big leaguer. Jace Young is a guy that can play third base if you need him to for a while. And he's a guy that can just hit.

[00:20:56] He doesn't feel like a guy that's going to be totally... Well, I say that. Every hitter is suppressed by T-Mobile Park. But he feels like a guy with a profile that would be a little bit less suppressed. Well, there's one. Lyle, Mike Trout. Well, yeah. I'm just saying Young's more of a doubles guy where Torque will rely more on homers. The strike-over rate was not that different than the minors, though. I'm going to be honest. Between the two. I guess I just look at, again, less reliant on power.

[00:21:24] Hit for some decent averages. I don't know about great averages. Same weaknesses, but less power is not better. Yeah. Although Torque wasn't hitting for great averages in the minors once he got to AA. At least Jace Young last year. But he's got legit power. Yeah. I just feel like they can fill first base a little easier right now than they can fill second and third. Young can play second and third. Totally fair. That's totally fair.

[00:21:52] Young, again, he wasn't some huge average guy in the minors, but he hit about 260 in AAA last year with an OPS well over 800. But he wasn't doing it by relying on long balls. So I don't know. He just feels like he could be a little bit of a safer bet at this point. He has more versatility and, again, the club control. But that being said, he probably costs a little more.

[00:22:15] And the last time Spencer Torkelson, if you want to look at a negative, was well above average in any baseball season at the plate, you have to go back to 2021. He had a 148 WRC plus across three levels that year. Otherwise, it's been he gets to AAA in 22 before his call up. He was league average, comes up to the big leagues, is 24% below average. Then he has the 30 homer season in 23. But it was only a 108 WRC plus.

[00:22:43] Goes back down to AAA and puts up matching numbers this year. And then at the big leagues, it's 92 in 2024. Yeah, and I got to be honest. And his AA stats are a little bit skewed. If you go back and look at 2021, most of that damage was done in A ball, both low A and high A. And then he had this one day in AA. I remember the AA Tigers team, Erie, I believe. Yeah, Erie.

[00:23:09] They had a doubleheader that day, and he had the day of his life between the two games combined, where it shot his numbers up for the season in AA tenfold. If you take those games out, his numbers don't look the same in AA. And truthfully, I think he was rushed a little bit through AA. He wasn't in AA that long. Yeah, he wasn't in AA that long. No, the Tigers rushed him a little bit, I think too soon, to be honest with you. And as a result, it just hasn't been the smoothest sailing so far in the big leagues for him.

[00:23:37] Despite the 31 home run season in 23, he was just a little above league average. I'm just thinking about the long-term factors here of Young, where how I've kept talking about the Kobe Mayo idea. And I don't think Young is Kobe Mayo at this point. Mayo looks like the guy that's going to have the much better bat at this point, at least right now. But it's a similar idea of plays the position of need, six years of control, and Young just may profile a little bit better in the ballpark, while also bringing some additional value, potentially, as a defender.

[00:24:07] The Tigers are a better future option for the Mariners. If, by the way, this is all hypothetical, if they decide to make these trades, Mariners could decide just not to, and balk at the price, as they've done numerous times this offseason. So I think we're in consensus then. Long-term outlook, we would want Bregman to be a Tiger. Short-term outlook, we want Bregman to be a Cub. Under no circumstance should Alex Bregman return to the Houston Astros.

[00:24:36] Oh, if Alex Bregman goes back to the Astros, oh, we're going to be firing up the old social channels if he does. I got to tell you, we're going to be cooking, and not in a good way, if he goes back to Houston. Can you pull the Jerry quote where they say, we're just going to wait for Houston? Yeah, where is that? Somewhere. I think they talked about it when they decided to rebuild, if I have that right.

[00:25:04] Because they said that, we're going to go into this rebuild, and by the time the other, what he's referencing, Houston, the other teams in this division are on their way down, we'll be on our way up. So, we should find that. I wonder if it's in that same article where they said they're then going to go after the big-name free agent players when the generational guys hit the market when the time is right. Might be. You know, because they've definitely done that. They've made offers to every big-name free agent out there in the last few years. They're basically the Blue Jays of the West Coast.

[00:25:33] Hey, didn't you hear they offered Shohei Otani one year for 65? Oh, that was the greatest offer he had. The greatest offer he had. And I got to tell you, we were ready outside T-Mobile Park that day when the team store just happened to be closed. Could you imagine we go back to Jerry DiPoto whenever he'd say this quote in 2019, and you say, All right, well, it's January 27th, 2025. Alex Bregman just re-signed with the Astros, and the Astros' win total is now 10 wins higher than yours still.

[00:26:05] Could we get a sell-the-team from Jerry? Now, that would be a plot twist. Come on. You know this front office wants more money. I know they're not going to publicly say it, but you know they do. Of course they want more money. I don't think they're stupid. If they don't want more money, then, well, then there's an issue. There's an issue on a lot of levels.

[00:26:32] Because then that would be the issue of, okay, so you don't want more money to get it better, but you also can't get it done at this current dollar amount, so what exactly are you doing? So I know they've sold this organization on they can win this way. Again, draft, develop, trade. They don't have to have the highest payroll, et cetera. I know they say that, and they certainly say it publicly, and oftentimes I think they have to, but there is no way they are disinterested in significant additional funds to make real signings. Correct.

[00:27:02] And as you said, yeah, they should be able to win this way because half the teams in the playoffs have a lower payroll than you do, and they're doing just fine. Right. Now, it's different when you talk about World Series titles. We've highlighted that, that, what is it, 13 of the last 15 winners are top 10 in payroll. Well, we take a couple of Division Series appearances. At this point, yeah. Which, again, I've said it before on this podcast. I'll say it again. I know that sounds like loser talk, but guess what? I am a loser. We are losers.

[00:27:31] So, yes, we will take Divisional Series appearances at this point. Just remember, five appearances, 48 seasons. I don't know how you spell that without losers. And this regime has won in 10 years. This is going to sound even worse. I'd just take another wild card series again. That was fun.

[00:27:57] Look at where we're at in this offseason. We went from sign Christian Walker and also trade for Nico Horner to... Time to compete for the World Series. Two more bats. This rotation. Like, we're good. We're there. And now we're sitting here saying, I would be interested in just playing in another wild card series. The win total is 84 and a half.

[00:28:25] The Astros signed your prized first baseman and probably third baseman, too. I mean, seriously, how ridiculous is this? I'm not going to spend that much time on it. But you're trying to compete. So they say, the best third baseman on the market is out there. He hasn't signed. It's almost February. And you're not even remotely interested. 84 and a half.

[00:28:50] Well, their operations this offseason would reflect that win total. Yes. Yes, it would. There was a tweet out there by a friend of the podcast, Michael Fisher. He misread the win total for the M's. And he initially, when he tweeted out all the win totals, put the Mariners at 79 and a half. And I was like, oh, we're about to cook. But then it was a mistweet. I was like, damn.

[00:29:21] Damn. What if this team somehow came out and just won 98 games this year? In just the most unlikely fashion ever. I cannot explain how much I wish they would prove us wrong. I really, I really, I really wish Jerry DiPota could walk up to the both of us after their champagne bath. Two birds out. Just like, you guys doubted me. You doubted me.

[00:29:50] Well, you know what? He'd have a long list of people to give those birds to. It ain't just us. It's like everybody in baseball media and everybody in this fan base at this point. Just about. John Stanton with two bottles of champagne doing the gritty out of the clubhouse. Yes. All right. Let's take a quick pause. We're going to talk to you guys about our friends over at Pogaccia's Pub 85. That's over in Kirkland. You guys know it's an awesome spot to go hang out. You want to start making your Super Bowl plans now?

[00:30:19] Do that. You want to just go have a regular night over there with your friends? That's a great time, too. Again, they have awesome food. Great happy hour deals. We'll get to that in a minute. They have games at the place. They have 20 TVs in the place if you want to watch sports or whatever else you might have on your mind. It's all over there. And happy hour drinks? Well, the deals are about as good as they get. It's 2 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday happy hours. And drinks are $3 and $4. Yeah. $3 and $4. That's it. It's an awesome deal. And a great spot to go hang out with your friends.

[00:30:49] So all that is over at Pagotch's Pub 85 in Kirkland. Would you like to introduce what we're talking about next? The Mariners can't hit at T-Mobile Park. What? That's the big story of the day. Sorry. Can you say that again? The Seattle Mariners can't hit at T-Mobile Park. Okay. I'm glad I heard that correctly. I was worried for a second.

[00:31:18] I thought you for some reason said they could. Wow. Are we gaslighting? So, background. In case you weren't paying attention on Monday morning, Mike Petriello of MLB.com put out a fantastic article about the Mariners and their longtime woes of hitting at T-Mobile Park. And it's documented back to when the park opened.

[00:31:47] It covers a variety of factors. He tackles it from a number of different angles. And we're going to try and talk about as many of these points as we can. And we also encourage you, for full context, go check it out. You can go check it out on his Twitter account. You can go check it out on MLB.com. It is data-driven. It is well thought out. He clearly took his time to look all this stuff up. Especially some of these quotes he found from T-Mobile Park.

[00:32:10] I didn't realize that Alex Rodriguez, right when the park opened, went out on the record and said, quote, This is the hardest park in the history of baseball to hit in. I did not realize he said that. Shout out to you, A-Rod. You're a genius. That probably should have been their first clue. Should have been a red alarm. It's like, um, maybe we blew up the wrong park. Well, what do you mean blew up?

[00:32:40] Before T-Mobile was invented, it was just a parking lot. Which ballpark did they blow up? Oh, you mean physically blow up. Yeah. Well, that would be the kingdom. Yeah. Mm-hmm. So, it's been well documented that the Mariners have struggled to hit in their ballpark. Which part would you like to talk about first? You could go in so many different ways.

[00:33:06] The notes I wrote down go in chronological order with how the article is written. So, I'll just start at the top. There's a bunch to get to here. T-Mobile Park has the most drastic park factors in all of baseball. More than Coors Field. What we mean by that is everybody talks about how hitter-friendly Coors Field is. In basic of terms, Seattle is more pitcher-friendly than Coors Field is hitter-friendly.

[00:33:32] By park factor, Coors Field favors hitters by 10% above the league average. That's what it does. That is the most hitter-friendly park in baseball. Seattle favors pitchers by 11% above the league average. In other terms, hitters have the disadvantage by 11%. And that drop-off is the biggest in all of baseball. On one side of the pendulum or the other. More than Coors Field. That is wild.

[00:34:02] Because all you hear about with Coors Field is the high elevation. Balls travel like crazy. It's why the fences are moved so far back in Colorado. And it doesn't matter. It's still the most offensive-friendly park in the league. But no, Seattle is more pitcher-friendly than Coors Field is hitter-friendly. That's crazy. And T-Mobile Park, it's always been pitcher-friendly. But it's not always this drastic.

[00:34:32] Which is funny to think about. I do see a little bit of a correlation here, Lyle. You can very easily see the 0-1 team. And you can see the mid-2010s Mariners teams that had Cano, Cruz, and Seager on it. With all of these numbers we'll present to you today, I will just note this in the more basic of terms. This is something you would expect.

[00:34:59] But T-Mobile Park hurts average hitters and slightly above average hitters. Which the Mariners have a penchant for wanting to acquire as many of us possible. A lot more than great hitters. So as you could tell, players like Nelson Cruz, Robinson Cano, and Kyle Seager are a lot less affected by T-Mobile Park than players like... Who? Jorge Polanco? Jorge Polanco.

[00:35:29] Teoscar Hernandez? Teoscar Hernandez. Tuffy goes to which. You get the point. Oh, Tuffy might have just been bad everywhere. The other thing I will note is that the really extreme park factors and strikeout factors, to be more specific, has not jumped into the outlier level until the past like three years.

[00:35:53] There's a chart in this article which is like a rolling, the rolling year by year placement of the strikeout rate and the park factor. And there have been some moments where it's pretty extreme. Like there was a pretty extreme year in... Where is it? TJ's trying to look at his computer. Yeah, it's 2012. You see I'm looking at my cameras all the way back there. This one I have to peer in because I can't see it. In 2012, it was a pretty extreme year.

[00:36:22] By the way, more extreme than it currently is. Do you want to know what it was in 2012? It's 86. Park factor. Yeah, it's pretty wild. It's 89 right now. It's pretty crazy. So, that was a pretty extreme year. And the strikeout thing represents that pretty clearly. But it has never been as an extreme on both ends as it is right now. As you can see. If you see this chart, you get a little bit more visual of it.

[00:36:48] But when I say like go look at when Robinson Cano signed, you'll see the park factor creep back towards league average. Like it's hanging right out below the league average at this point. When Cano, Cruz, and Seager are mashing. As soon as they leave, well, it goes like this. Any correlation there? I think there's correlation. Sign more. There's like a takeaway from this.

[00:37:17] That the Mariners are not going to get more production out of good to average hitters at T-Mobile Park. Really hard. Because the players just aren't good enough. But the elite hitters. Let me tell you about those. They don't drop off as much. Sounds like they should acquire those guys. Sounds like a pretty smart strategy to me. It sounds like it to you. Sounds like it to me. Sounds like it to everybody listening.

[00:37:46] But not to the people running this team. Woo! Because it just... Like Robinson Cano is a bad contract, Tiege. You can't sign guys like that. You know, finish top 10 in MVP voting multiple times and make three all-star games while you're in Seattle. Robbie had about his Mariners average OPS at T-Mobile Park. It was like 830? Yeah, 817. Go ahead. That's about what Robbie did as a Mariner.

[00:38:17] In this day and age, too? With this pitching? In this environment? Go ahead and take that OPS number for Robbie and put it right in the Mariners Hall of Fame. Jeez. There are players who have figured out T-Mobile Park. A-Rod did. Which season was it? It's 2000 season where he was 1100 OPS on the road, 900 at home. And he's like, oh! Like the quote from earlier. Yeah, it was 2000.

[00:38:44] 11.35 OPS on the road, 908 at home. And he's like, oh, I suck here. He's like, sure you do, Alex. 908 OPS. Edgar hit at T-Mobile Park fine. Griffey hit at T-Mobile Park fine, even though he also hated T-Mobile Park. And then the modern suspects of Nelson Cruz had an OPS over 800. Seth Smith, professional at bat legend, hit well at T-Mobile Park.

[00:39:13] So did Raul Labanez. So did John Allroot. And then so did Cano. All OPS is over 800. Those guys didn't have a problem. Yeah. And just sitting here talking about this more, before we even dive more into some of the players and how they played versus didn't play, should we give people even more of an outline on what this article is? I feel like we should. Because, look, we're talking about Mariners can't hit a T-Mobile Park. It's been that way for a long time. Yes, correct.

[00:39:40] But there were things highlighted in this article that go above and beyond what anybody's ever talked about. So I'll just read out a number here or two more. And you can throw in anything else that you think might be relevant before we get back into talking about reasons why this is happening, players that have struggled, etc. Because we've already done a little bit of that. But listen to what the Mariners have done at home versus on the road as a pitching group. And what does this do as a pitching group? Well, it affects the hitters.

[00:40:07] Because while hitters really struggle to hit here, pitchers thrive in this park. That goes without saying. And especially this current rotation. So check this out. Mariners pitchers, when they were on the road this year, in terms of run prevention, not giving up runs. They were league average. We talked about that through the course of the year. This was a different rotation on the road than at home. Numbers back that up. They gave up in total 351 runs on the road.

[00:40:36] Remember that number, 351. At home, they gave up 256 runs. That is almost 100 less runs. Percentage-wise, that's 72% less than they gave up on the road. And by ranking, that is the third lowest total of any team in the last eight years. In other words, that is just one of many other numbers in this article, which you should absolutely

[00:41:05] go read from Mike Petriello, to highlight just the unbelievable difference between trying to hit at home and hit on the road in terms of T-Mobile Park. In an ERA context, that's a 2-8-5 ERA. Number one by, I think it was four-tenths of a run. It's a lot. They led Major League Baseball by a lot. But that's something we've highlighted a lot throughout the year. Because it was pretty clear early on how dominant they were going to be at home.

[00:41:35] When it came to their pitching staff. Which, again, is expected. But why is that? What are some factors? The batter's eye is probably one. And we can dig into this a little bit. But let's save that for a minute here. What seems to be the conclusion is we may have a little bit of an answer as to why the Mariners strike out so much these days. Part of it is just the players they acquire.

[00:42:03] And the team they put on the field does not put bat to ball. But what Petriello highlighted in this article, you would look at these charts and it's like T-Mobile Park spits strikeouts out like no other. They create strikeouts. It's like they're a factory churning out strikeout after strikeout after strikeout. I'm just handing them to these players. Because the strikeouts that this ballpark produces itself is crazy.

[00:42:32] I think that's a big reason as to why. This park suppresses runs and inflates strikeouts more than any other ballpark by a landslide. If you go look at the chart that's in this article, it shows that. It shows Seattle and T-Mobile Park on an island, on an XY grid that shows run suppression and inflated strikeouts. They are on an island on their own. And if I think they're going to solve this issue, that's the issue they need to solve. I don't, they're not going to solve the marine layer.

[00:43:02] They're not going to solve why do fly balls not fly far enough. They need to solve how to get hitters a better advantage before they actually hit the ball. Because to boil it down into the simplest terms, once you step in the box at T-Mobile Park, you're already disadvantaged more than any hitter at any ballpark in baseball before you even swing the bat. Just based on the results of trying to hit the pitch.

[00:43:28] And then once you hit the pitch, it's also as bad as any park in baseball. So it's the double whammy of swing and miss and contact just not doing what you want. So they're going to solve a problem. They need to solve the strikeout problem. And while I don't think Petriolo came to a definitive conclusion on what causes it, he listed out a couple of different factors that we'll talk about here.

[00:43:56] There, I would imagine the Mariners are going to try and put some resources into this. So they can at least have an answer to players who ask them about their ballpark, why it does what it does, and what they're anticipating going towards to fix the issue. Some of those issues, we talked about the roof before. Petriolo took a look at the roof and said, no, not much of a difference there. He took a look at the sun. Now that's fascinating.

[00:44:24] I did not think about the sun when it came to what the potential issue could be at this ballpark. It sounds like a lot of the issues with T-Mobile Park pertain to playing when the sun is setting. That's what it feels like. When they play those May, June, July games at 640, it's actually one of the worst times for them to be playing the game.

[00:44:53] This jumped out to me about as much as anything. The other numbers I read have been interesting. There's a bunch of stuff in here that's fascinating. But I didn't think enough about this. I didn't think about the sun and when it's setting and the line of vision it has on these hitters playing so much of a factor. And there's numbers that back this up. Because maybe some of you were sitting here saying, oh, players are mad about the sun being in their eyes? Tough it out. Figure it out. It's not that easy. Without getting too nitty-gritty into the numbers,

[00:45:22] what Petriello found is in the 4 o'clock, 5 o'clock, and 6 o'clock hours, that's when swing and miss rates are at its highest. They are at its highest in those hours where the sun is starting to set and gets into the batter's line of vision. That is now proven fact. There are numbers to back this up. So, yeah, that was fascinating. And I don't think anybody's talked about the sun. And to notice, he also sorts two different columns for each time.

[00:45:50] He does the overall whiff percentage, which, as you mentioned, goes up. But it's even higher when it's sunny and clear. Now, just think about the layout of T-Mobile Park. This is where the batter's eye factors in a little bit. Because what direction is the batter's eye facing? It's facing out towards the water. Where's the sun setting? Over the water. It's not 100% direct. Yeah. But that's the direction it's going. Right.

[00:46:19] I'll tell you what. You might not have a solution to everything in this article, like why fly balls don't fly. I've got a solution to this. Go back to all the games starting at 710. The Mariners started all these games at 640 all of a sudden. And their reasoning was because they know a lot of families go to games and kids want to be home at a reasonable hour so they can get to bed on a school night and get up for school. My answer to that, too bad.

[00:46:49] Families want to leave the game early at this point? Leave early. You know what's more important? The team winning games and being able to hit the baseball. You know what happens if families leave early at this point? Well, guess what? Mariners still got what they wanted. Their money is in their pockets with tickets and food and drink sales in their pockets. The 7 o'clock hour is the most fascinating thing about this entire graph. Because the 7 o'clock hour is the lowest whiff rate of this entire spreadsheet.

[00:47:17] The entire spreadsheet from noon to 10 p.m. 7 o'clock is the lowest. So maybe it jumps back up at 8, 9 o'clock when it sunsets in the summer. But it's still better than those 4, 5 and 6 p.m. hours. Again, right. Because you're just shrinking the amount of hours. The sun is a factor. Right. Again, you cannot wash this away. There's no perfect solution. But there are solutions.

[00:47:43] And my solution here is if families decide that it's such a big deal for leaving early so everybody gets to bed in a reasonable hour on a work night, on a school night, fine. I care more about hitters hitting in this park. Because I don't think families want to stick around for the full 2.5 to 3-hour game to watch 1-0 losses. And don't think the Mariners don't know about this because Petrello talked to DePoto about this when he was at the winter meetings. And here's what Jerry had to say about it.

[00:48:12] He says, I don't think it's an everyday thing he says about the sun. It's an occasional thing based on the position of the sun at a given time for a short period of time during the game. Which is right because the sun doesn't stay in one spot the entire time. It's always moving. But it's clear, based on some of the data that Petrello dug out, that it's definitely having an effect. Yeah. It's not insignificant. I think this may have been Kramer who got this from Jerry. Because if you look at the article, Kramer helped on this too. And that... Well, Petrello was there at winter meetings.

[00:48:41] He was at the winter meetings, but I don't know if he ever talked to DePoto. I mean, Kramer, we know, talked to DePoto because he put out quotes from the winter meetings with... That's fair. Stories from the winter meetings with Jerry's quotes in them. So they collaborated on this together. Right. Yeah. So with that, yeah. I mean, they know about it. But I don't know when they came to the conclusion about the sun and when they came to the conclusion that this is playing a real factor.

[00:49:07] But if they've gathered this at some point over the last few months and have more definitive data on this now, especially from this article that Petriello is now writing, you get to run your baseball team. Change the start time of the games. Go back to 710. Let the hitters hit. If the sun is gleaming in their eyes at the 6 o'clock hour, and sometimes innings go fast, if for the first two innings these guys can barely see the ball,

[00:49:31] feels worth it to me to change the time of the game and let them start hitting at 715 to 720. And notice the rise. This, again, might not be the one single issue. There might be a whole number of factors baked into this. But they started the 640 starts in 21, didn't they? When the strikeout, when we look at this graph here, talking about the factor of strikeout rate per year, when did it start spiking?

[00:50:01] 2021. Tells a story, doesn't it? It does. It's not the whole story, but it's definitely a part of it. Let's talk about that batter's eye. So it might, Lyle, it might not just be the batter's eye itself. It might not be the angle of the batter's eye. The angle of the batter's eye might be completely irrelevant. Because there's two other comparisons here with T-Mobile Park's batter's eye. It's the Baltimore batter's eye, which is as close as it gets. And then you have the Guardian's batter's eye,

[00:50:29] which has some shrubbery in front of their slanted batter's eye. All the batter's eyes are slanted in the same direction. Cleveland's is the only ones that's different because of the foliage in front of it. But notice that Baltimore doesn't have an issue when it comes to scoring runs or strikeouts. In fact, the Orioles are in the top half of the league in terms of positive towards hitters when it comes to both those things. I think their park factor is about even.

[00:50:56] But in terms of strikeouts, their strikeout factor at their ballpark is top 10 favoring the offense? Not the Mariners. Where the Mariners are, as you go look on baseball savant park factor, are far and away the toughest place to make contact with the baseball. Right. But the Mariners tried the trees out in front of the batter's eye once before. It was roughly 20 years ago. And they got rid of it in about a year, maybe less,

[00:51:25] because the players thought it was such a disaster that they said, we can't hit with this. So I don't think the trees did much in Seattle. Maybe it helps in Cleveland. Didn't seem to help here. It really might just be the combination of the sun and the angle of the batter's eye. That might be it. Or it might be most of the factor. Right. So look, one of the things Jerry's talked about, and I think he gave this quote at the winter meetings, when asked about the batter's eye and how much research has gone into it at this point,

[00:51:55] he said, look, we can't change the entire park. And he said, adjusting that batter's eye might involve changing the entire park, which we just can't do. And if that's the case, which it might be, that is not an easy batter's eye to adjust if you look at it, especially if you look at what's around it, what's around the park. It's not the snap of a finger. You can just change that batter's eye. If that is the case, then you have to find some solution. And right now, the best one I've got for you, start the games later. Go back to 7-10.

[00:52:23] Because the combination of sun and batter's eye seems to be a real problem. If you can lessen the conditions of one, seems like somewhat of a win. Yes. There is one other factor here that the Mariners are unique in. Talks about the wind a little bit. Now, the wind paragraph in this article is pretty short when it came to what the effect it has on T-Mobile Park specifically,

[00:52:50] and whether or not it has a massive impact on the run scoring environment. There are a couple things he notes in here when he talks about what kind of effects winds has on the teams playing. If you have a wind behind you, it's better for fastballs, worse for breaking balls. If the wind's in front of you, it's better for breaking balls and worse for fastballs because the ball can spin faster.

[00:53:16] At T-Mobile Park, it's not the windiest ballpark in baseball. That would be the Giants ballpark where it has the most prevailing wind. Prevailing wind is behind you or in front of you. I can't remember. Prevailing. I think in front because that's what would drive baseballs down. If you had wind going with you, it would push the ball out. Prevail. Google is not very helpful in this. Thanks, Google.

[00:53:42] Anyways, so anyway, prevailing wind in terms of miles per hour. The Giants are the most. But in terms of impact, I'm trying to... In terms of impact, the Giants and the Mariners are pretty similar when it comes to the impact of the wind on the ballpark, even though it's not blowing as hard. So it's not great.

[00:54:08] There's not much you can do about that unless... The only way the Mariners solve every single one of these problems is if they build a dome. But I don't think they're going to build a dome because I think they have built up... The equity they have built up with this fan base is that it's a fantastic place to go watch a baseball game outside during the summer. And taking that away would not be as great for marketing. What if you simply just won?

[00:54:36] Some people say that's an awesome marketing tool. I've looked at this three different ways. If I want them to win games, they should probably build a dome. They should build a dome. If... If... We want to keep to our bit about rain delays, they should also build a dome. Well, actually, they don't need to do anything. In that aspect. As a fan, though, sitting in the seats... Domes kind of stink.

[00:55:05] Okay, but you could build something... Something... Like Chase Field has in Arizona where it opens in the summer. Not the same. You're not outdoors. You're not outdoors. Doesn't count. No, it doesn't count. What if... No, that wouldn't work either. I was going to say, because you think about the wind that comes in from left field when the roofs close. And I was going to say, what if they built something that... Some type of door, sliding door, that just closed that part of the field with it? But then that's still... I was thinking about left field and I forgot.

[00:55:35] There's a massive, massive, like, wind gust that comes in from right and right center field. And I don't think you can fix that. That would be tough. I mean, you have to take out all the trees out there. That would be... That would be interesting. I did see some people joking about just lining that left field outlook with glass paneling. Right. And that's what I was originally thinking, too. You could have some type of sliding door where, guess what? Keep the retractable roof. Have the sliding door in left field.

[00:56:04] When the roof is open, you slide that sliding door out so it's still an outdoor ballpark. But then you get the dome factor when you need it. However, again, that doesn't account for everything in right and right center field. I don't think the Mariners would deem that a worthwhile investment to do that. Well, they should do. Well, they don't deem elite hitters a worthwhile investment either. So, yeah. There's two ways they could solve this problem with the current ballpark. Number one, get more elite hitters on your roster because elite hitters have shown they can continue to hit in this ballpark.

[00:56:33] Mike Trout has shown it literally doesn't matter. He's like, oh, you guys suck here. I can't relate. I went. So I went back and when I was trying to do some digging earlier, I was looking at since the park opened, who is the highest OPS? It's Mike Trout by like a mile. Like he's shown like it's not that hard for him. Anyway, so it shows to the point and Edgar's shown it and Griffey's shown it and A-Rod's shown it.

[00:57:01] Cano and Cruz have shown it that if you're an elite hitter, you can still hit in this park so you can be good at home and elite on the road, which is as good as the Mariners are going to get right now. So that's even more of a sales pitch if you need it and you're trying to fix your problem. That will fix your problem. The other thing you just have to do, Lyle, is you have to double down on your strength. Like you have to.

[00:57:22] You need to play into what your park where you're going to play 81 home games a year is good at and not literally try and fight against what doesn't want to be fought against. Which is where this last season makes so much more sense. What did we say earlier? Average to good hitters will struggle way more at T-Mobile Park than good to great hitters. What did the Mariners stock their roster full of this past season? Mitch Garver, an average to good hitter.

[00:57:52] Jorge Polanco, an average to good hitter. Josh Rojas, an average hitter. Should I keep going? Who else? Mitch Hanager, right now in his career, is a below average hitter. Really struggles at home. All the second basemen you have behind Jorge Polanco are average hitters. Dylan Moore, an average hitter. Ty France, at this point of his career, an average hitter. Am I missing anyone?

[00:58:21] We're seeing a trend here. A lot of average. We should go above and beyond. It should. Great hitters. This is something the Rockies could get away with. Right. Because you plug an average hitter into Coors Field, and all of a sudden, wow, we're scoring runs. Right. Plug an average hitter into T-Mobile Park. Not as successful. Which was a huge reason I was always a little skeptical about Trevor's story. And that appears to be right for how he's fared so far in Boston once he got out of Colorado.

[00:58:50] To your point, this is the other side of the coin for why not to build a dome. Because if you're going to lean into your strength, which is your pitching. And we've highlighted in this episode and plenty of others, too, how this is a different rotation at home than it is on the road. And if that's the case, maybe offense would go up. It would probably go up somewhat. I still don't think the Mariners are a very talented offense on paper right now.

[00:59:13] And with that, if that group went up offensively a little bit, it may not be worth your rotation ballooning down an entire point in terms of ERA. Because that's what happens when they go on the road versus pitching home. And if they were pitching in domes, it could get worse. The goal is to get better. Would they be better if they built one? Not unless they improve their offense, which they need to do with or without a dome. Right. There is one stat here that I want you to read that blew my mind.

[00:59:43] I didn't even realize that this was this stark. What is it? Munoz? Ah. Yeah. This one's pretty crazy. When they talk about the home road splits for pitchers, well, and hitters. But on the topic of pitchers and how they fare at home versus on the road, we've talked about it plenty with George Kirby. A little bit of an outlier guy. Pitches much better at home than he does on the road.

[01:00:12] Bryce Miller, who pitched much, much better on the road in the second half. So let's make sure to highlight that. But when you look at his career as a whole so far, he's a 2-6 ERA guy at home and a 4-5 ERA guy on the road. Big difference. Andres Munoz. This is crazy. Andres Munoz's home road splits in 2024. At home.

[01:00:36] He had an 0-28 ERA and struck out 43% of the batters that he faced. On the road, he had a 4-28 ERA and struck out 25% of the batters that he faced. That is the third largest home road split difference of any pitcher since World War III. The third largest home road split difference of any pitcher since World War...

[01:01:03] The third largest home road split of... Jesus Christ, I can't even talk. The third largest home road split of any pitcher since World War II. There's been no World War III. I'm not that dumb. Thank goodness. I'm not that dumb. So, yes. Since World War II, this is the third largest discrepancy on home road splits. Andres Munoz. This is what T-Mobile Park does to pitchers.

[01:01:28] You can be the best pitcher in baseball at home and an average pitcher on the road. It applies to, as you said, Bryce. It can apply to Logan Gilbert. It was better. It was closer. But he was still better at home. Luis Castillo had a significant difference this year. A little bit less the year before in 2023. But this past year definitely helped him out being at home. That's what makes Brian Wu incredible.

[01:01:56] He seems like he's the only guy in Major League Baseball who's not affected by this as a pitcher. Crazy. And you wonder why he's my favorite guy in the rotation. There is just so much about that guy where if he stays healthy, the sky is legitimately the limit for him. Not affected on the road. Doesn't get hit hard. Has an arsenal of different pitches now. He's got the crazy attack angle from the low slot. He's got the fastball rise.

[01:02:25] Everything he does is fascinating. The big question for the Mariners going into this upcoming season, besides the fact of them going over their win total of 84.5, is are they going to be able to offset some of the major deficiencies that their park causes their offense? Or are they going to let the same problems eat themselves into another frustrating offensive season? It's going to be a big question. Big question.

[01:02:54] Again, I can't get over it. That's so crazy. It's like, it's about 80 years. World War II. And this is the third largest difference in that time where we just watched from Andres Munoz. Crazy. It is hard to find parks like T-Mobile Park that are this offensive suppressive. It's pretty hard. It blows my mind that, like, I keep going back to 2012. I can't believe it was that low in 2012. That's pretty insane. Crazy.

[01:03:22] You know what the last point I want to make is on here before we wrap this up? And this has been talked about, too. But left-handed hitters seem to have less issues as a whole than the right-handed hitters do at times with this. Really? Yes. I mean, like, look at some of the guys who are outlier guys at T-Mobile Park. Right-handed hitters have struggled much more than some of the lefties.

[01:03:49] I know Nelson Cruz hit well, but, like, look at some of the guys you highlighted, right, when you were talking about— I think that's just a perception. Because the—if you go look at the totals of the league hitting at T-Mobile Park, you can do the last five years or you can do since the park opened. Lefties actually have a lower OPS. Which is kind of crazy, but you just look at some of the outlier guys. Look, Luke Raley doesn't have a huge sample. That guy had a 900 OPS at home this year. Struggled on the road. Big time. Doesn't make any sense.

[01:04:18] So, like, him, Cano hit at T-Mobile Park. Seager hit better on the road than he did at T-Mobile Park, but he still hit enough. There are left-handed hitters who were perfectly fine here. Seth Smith, who you highlighted, left-handed hitter, hit at T-Mobile Park. Look, outside of Nelson Cruz, there doesn't seem to be a lot of right-handed hitters with a large sample size that have really thrived. Which is why it's weird that lefties have the lower OPS overall.

[01:04:42] That's why I feel like it's more of a perception thing rather than the total accumulation of what actually happened at the ballpark. It's weird. If lefties—if it was really just that lefties didn't have as much of a problem, then, well, seems like Juan Soto would have been a good fit. Hmm. Not a smart strategy. That's what you sell them. It's like, look, lefties don't have a problem with this. You'll be fine. It is crazy.

[01:05:11] How the Mariners move forward with this may be as big of a question as any over the next couple years. Because, as we've clearly seen, everything that's been highlighted in this article, they've got to change something. I don't think they can continue to go down this road. Because if they continue the combination of low budgets, no changes to the park, and rolling out similar offenses,

[01:05:39] it's hard to see different results coming to fruition at this point. So I hope this franchise has something in mind for how to better the situation for offensive players in this park. Because it is a half of the game. You can be elite in pitching every year, but you have got to hit the ball to some extent. And hitting in T-Mobile Park for half your games, you deal with what you've got. That's your home park. So with that, I really hope they look for some solutions going forward. Because they need them. Yeah.

[01:06:09] Alright. Alright. I think that just about wraps up this edition of the Marine Layer Podcast. You guys know the drill. You want to listen to the Full Form Podcast, you can do so wherever you get your audio pods. Make sure to like, comment, subscribe on YouTube. Now I'm going backwards. But yeah, if you're watching on the video side, make sure to hit subscribe on YouTube. Drop a comment on the video. If you're on the audio side, make sure to download, rate, and review five stars. It really does help us out. And follow us everywhere on social media. Instagram, TikTok, Twitter. YouTube Shorts, Blue Sky. We're at Marine Layer Pod.

[01:06:39] And one final time. Actually, first time in today's show. We want to give you guys a reminder. Our first live show. February 20th, 6pm. Moss Bay Hall in Kirkland. It is going to be awesome. We hope to see you guys there. That's TJ. I'm Lyle. As always, we thank you guys for tuning in. We'll talk to you soon.