Episode 207: What If The Mariners Defy All Odds In 2025? (Mailbag)

[00:00:00] Welcome to episode number 207 of the Marine Layer Podcast. It's a mailbag episode. We'll open it up and answer your guys's best listener questions. This show is brought to you by our friends over at Pogaccia's Pub 85 that's over in Kirkland. You guys want to have an awesome time with your friends, plan a night out, plan an event, head over there. There's great food, great happy hour deals, there's games, there's 20 TVs in the place so you want to go watch some sporting events with your friends.

[00:00:27] You've got the whole nine yards right over there. And if you want to go during happy hour, I mentioned those drink specials. They're $3 and $4 guys, 2-6pm happy hour, Monday through Friday, and drinks are $3 and $4. So, all of that is over at Pogaccia's Pub 85 in Kirkland. And your reminder, before we start this pod, make sure to download everywhere, rate, review, five stars, subscribe on YouTube, please. And then follow us everywhere. We're on social media, on all the platforms, at MarineLayerPod.

[00:00:57] Let's get it rolling. And we welcome you to this episode of the Marine Layer Podcast, part of the Just Baseball Podcast Network. Recording here on Tuesday evening, February 4th. Recording this one a little bit in advance because Lyle and I will be on vacation when this comes out.

[00:01:27] Lyle, we are officially into February. We're officially almost into preview season. Does it feel right? I don't know. We just got done ranting and railing about the hot stove. So, I don't know if it feels right yet that we're going to jump into it. We're going to jump into it. But there wasn't much of a transition period, that's for sure. Do you need a transition period?

[00:01:53] Well, I guess, to be fair, we kind of have one right now as we're doing a mailbag episode. And then we'll have a guest interview with Trevor May coming up on Wednesday's podcast. So, I guess there's a little bit of a transition now thinking it through. So, sure, I did need a transition. Are we going to have a negativity flush on this vacation? Are we going to collect ourselves and come back? Bright eyes, a smile on our face, and positivity? On these podcasts?

[00:02:24] Yes? Off the air? Eh. Hmm. The dark shadow remains. Can't scrub it away. Let's see if these questions will make you feel any better. All right. First of all, actually, we haven't been doing this at the start of the show. Let's make sure to do this at the start of the show so we don't forget. Not at the end of the show.

[00:02:46] So, our first live show in person, Moss Bay Hall in Kirkland, Thursday, February 20th, 6pm. Bam. Got it at the front of the show. If you can make it on that Thursday, the 20th, 6pm, Moss Bay Hall. They have great food. They have great drinks. And hey, you'll get to listen to us in person. We'll do some trivia. Answer some questions. Talk about the M's. Maybe we'll get a guest. We'll see. We're working on it.

[00:03:14] But make sure you guys go check that out. We're going to have some fan interviews that we'll do when everything kind of concludes in the sense of when we're done with the main portion of the live show itself. People want to do fan content. We're going to be totally open to doing that. So, if anybody wants to get on the mic and rip a take about whatever, more than welcome. Like TJ said, we're trying to work on the idea of getting a guest. And yeah, we've got some really fun ideas planned.

[00:03:40] A big, big part of this, you guys, is legitimately we want to take questions from everybody that's there and from all of our fans. So, if you show up, which is free to get in, by the way, prepare a question and bring it to us because we want to answer questions. We want to hear from you guys. On top of that, we are launching something with this episode that we'd like to mention for all of those of you that would like to be interested and like to support us.

[00:04:06] And another way, one way to support us, of course, would be coming to the live show, hanging out and helping grow the brand of the Marine Layer Podcast as we go into this season. But the other thing, while we're starting a Patreon, we are starting a Patreon. For all of you who want something a little bit extra from us or want different versions of what we do, we're going to make that available to you. We'll plan on putting the link of the Patreon in the description of this episode.

[00:04:34] And this will be the first episode on our Patreon account. Right now, it will just be ad-free on Patreon. If that's something you're interested in and would like to listen to us without all the ads, you can go over there to Patreon, sign up, subscribe, and listen to all of our episodes without any ads. And we look forward to adding some more content on the Patreon in the future. But since we're just getting started, that's all we have to offer right now. We're always open to ideas, mind you.

[00:05:02] So if you guys have ideas of something you would be willing to sign up for and want us to do for you guys, I mean, we're an open book and would love some ideas on that. So really excited that that launches for this episode. Yeah, it's going to be great. And let me just diffuse any thoughts that may be going through people's heads right now. None of the content we already do is going behind a paywall. It's our normal two episodes a week, all our stuff on social media, all that stuff. None of that's going behind a paywall. None of that.

[00:05:32] Nothing like that is changing. We are just giving people the option to listen ad-free. And we're going to keep adding some stuff as time goes on. And we've loaded out some fun ideas, some ideas that we can further interact with a bunch of you guys and really build a community that we're proud of and thrilled to see that's come together over the couple years of us doing this. We just want to keep growing that. So this is another way for us to do that. And that is a way for us to do that without changing anything that we're already doing.

[00:06:02] So nothing's going to change with the content we're already doing. We're just going to add some potential things with this Patreon. So go subscribe if you want some more content. You'll be along for the ride with us. Yeah. And before we start doing mailbag questions, if you're interested in sponsoring us, send us an email. MarineLayerPod at gmail.com. DM us on social media. Always looking. We're always interested. Hit us up. Absolutely. I concur everything we just said. Let's get into the mailbag.

[00:06:31] And let's start on YouTube with Ian. And Ian sends us a question saying, Does the Mariners making the playoffs as a wildcard team only to lose in the division series make the offseason more of a failure or less? I think this is a two-part question. The offseason would be less of a failure because you would have made the playoffs after missing it the previous two seasons.

[00:06:57] That is an improvement on what you would have done in 2023 and 2024. So we're not going to sit here and say they had a Dodgers-type offseason where they added all this impact and won the offseason, as David Sampson called it when he was on with us. And we're the media darlings and everybody had them high in their preseason projections. Nothing like that. But if they make the playoffs, it'll be hard to dispute what happened in the offseason because that means they got something right.

[00:07:27] Now, part two of this would be for me, is the season as a whole a success? No, I wouldn't say so. Because you're in a window right now with this rotation where you're trying to win a World Series. I mean, it's a— Okay, on a Mariners scale, it's a success because they made the playoffs— Okay, thank you. I think on the Mariners scale. On a Mariners scale, it's a success because you made the playoffs five times in your franchise's existence.

[00:07:51] But when you have a rotation like this and are in a window, a contention window, and you know you're not going to have it forever and you're trying to win it all, this is a window where they said they expect to be competing for AL pennants, right? If you lose in the ALDS, that's not really that. So again, offseason would not be a failure. I would not call the season a riveting success if they lost in the ALDS. This is probably the biggest loser talk of all time, but I would be perfectly happy with an ALDS loss.

[00:08:22] Tige, what do we like to say? I know this sounds like loser talk, but let's be clear. I am a loser. We are losers. Here's the thing about offseasons. Offseasons build expectations for a season. And I don't think—I think once the season starts, I don't think you can really pay attention as much to the offseason unless you're like the Dodgers and you make like one critical Achilles heel move that costs you your season and your chance at a World Series.

[00:08:51] Like the Mariners offseason has been a failure. But then you get into the season upcoming and the offseason just kind of goes away. The offseason is just to set expectations for the season. Does that make sense? Yeah. Am I making sense? Yes. Okay. So they're setting expectations, and I think the consensus best place to look at what an expectation is is go to look at Vegas win totals. What does Vegas think the Mariners are going to do?

[00:09:16] Well, Vegas has the Mariners right now as the 10th best team in the American League by win total. Do you hear me right? 10th best in the American League? Yeah. Oh, that's not good. That's not good. Now, I will say it's tied. They're tied with four teams at 83 and a half right now on DraftKings. That makes more sense. I was going to say, all the projections have them at 83 to 85 wins right now. I could spin it as 10th. You could—the odds had them 10th in line in the American League.

[00:09:46] Well, if Jerry's going to use 2023 and 2024 and 2022—or sorry, 2022 and 2023 as examples of why they've had a top 10 offense on the road, we can use the other side of that and say the Mariners actually have the 10th best win total odds in the American League. In the American League? Yes. In the American League. There are 15 teams—and Jerry, there are 15 teams in the American League, by the way. Yeah. Right. Only six of them make the playoffs. Yeah.

[00:10:13] So then—so if you look at that, 83 and a half, and then you end up making the division series, I don't know how I could view that as a failure. Right? Again, I'm just looking at this window with this rotation. You're right. On a Mariner scale, it's not a failure. And for where expectations are, it's not a failure. Yeah. It's a complicated question. I don't think there's really one easy way to look at it. I just don't think the outcome of this season has any—is going to determine whether or not this offseason is a failure. It's a failure right now. Sorry.

[00:10:42] Actually, let me call my bluff on that and reel back a little bit. The only way this offseason is not a failure is if the Mariners go win a World Series. Otherwise, it is. Yeah. I don't know if the offseason's a failure if they make the playoffs. I just think the season is because you're in a window right now where you're expecting to win. Yeah. I don't know. Here's—let me ask you this.

[00:11:13] After 2022, once the dust settled, we walked out of the stadium, out of T-Mobile Park after the 18-inning crushing loss. It was about a couple months before the Marine Layer pod had ever started. And you're sitting there thinking to yourself after the dust settles. And you start to reminisce on what was a really, really fun year where they broke the drought, won a playoff series, etc.

[00:11:36] Did you think to yourself, this team can and very well might make a World Series during this window? Yes, I did. I thought the same thing. But now we sit here and are saying ALDS? Yes. The team has shown us what their intentions are. And whether I want to win a World Series, I want to see the team go and capture that trophy.

[00:12:06] But I think it's pretty clear the top of the organization doesn't believe that. It's not their highest priority. They can say it, but they're not showing it with any sort of action to say that. So once that changes, unfortunately, you can't sit here and just say, oh, you could luck into it. Yeah, sure you could luck into it. I can luck into a lot of things. I'm not going to make a Sidney Sweeney reference because you shot down my last one.

[00:12:37] So we could all get lucky. I could win the lottery and get lucky with this. But that doesn't change the fact that in a vacuum, the offseason is still a failure, I think, no matter what. But the only way the offseason is justified is if you go win a World Series. Otherwise, how else could you spin it? Fair enough. I'm still going to err more on the side of the season as a whole would be a failure, more than the offseason if they lost in the ALDS.

[00:13:05] But like you said, complicated question. There's probably 100 different answers you could get from 100 different people if you asked them. It's very complicated. All right. Let's get to our next mailbag question. This one comes from Captain Davey John on Instagram. And he says, if you had to pick the most important player who isn't in the spotlight right now for the Mariners, who is it? Andres Munoz. Hmm.

[00:13:34] Got a little nervous listening to the talk about the bullpen. If you listened to our Wednesday episode, I went on a couple of different tangents about my concern for the Mariners' bullpen, especially off of last season and some of the shaky expectations they have for it this year, whether it be Matt Brash's timeline, whether it be Troy Taylor not being ready for the start of the season, whether it be relying as on one of your two leverage arms you can rely on right now being Gregory Santos, who hasn't proven to the Mariners he can stay healthy.

[00:14:02] And then Andres Munoz, who's coming off an extremely heavy workload where we just watched Matt Brash have a heavy workload for a season and ended up getting Tommy John. I don't want that for Andres Munoz. And we know that Andres Munoz is the most valuable piece to this bullpen. I know you said Brash on Wednesday, but it's Munoz. I'll push back on you on that. It is Andres Munoz without a doubt. Without him in that bullpen, we've seen what's happened without Mooney in that Mariners' bullpen. It's a nightmare.

[00:14:31] Trying to close out games in the eighth and ninth inning. Absolute nightmare. So he hasn't been talked about a whole lot this offseason. And I think the Mariners' bullpen success is going to be a huge part of whether or not this 2025 team is going to be successful enough. It's not the offense.

[00:14:47] I think it's going to be the bullpen's ability to close out games in these tight games at home where the offense probably predictably has not scored enough runs in a certain game and needs the bullpen to keep it either close or to hold down a small lead at this point. So I think it's got to be Munoz. I still think Matt Brash is the most valuable guy on the pen. We saw what happened when he was not on the field this year. I think Scott Service believed Matt Brash was their most valuable arm.

[00:15:13] And I think he believed that because you could throw him into any situation, whether it was the bridge guy after a starter exited the game to get out of some sort of jam. If he had to come in to face the best hitter in a lineup. If you had to use him in the ninth inning. I mean, he could pitch everywhere. The one thing about Mooney is he is better when he starts an inning on his own rather than coming into a situation, I think. So Brash is more versatile. You're right. Yeah.

[00:15:40] But peak Mooney is devastating. He is. More than Brash is. Again, another thing you could probably argue either way. I just personally went with Brash. My answer to this question, though. Interesting you said Munoz. Two of us have a similar thought process, different player. I went with the bullpen. But I said Gregory Santos, the guy who's really not in the spotlight. You need bullpen help this year and you need it badly. Especially with the news now that Troy Taylor may start the year behind and on the IL.

[00:16:09] It sounds like he's going to be delayed when spring training starts because he's got a latch train. Now, Troy Taylor hasn't thrown a ton of innings, but he is somebody you are expecting at this point to throw in some leverage. He did last year toward the end. So what does your bullpen look like right now without Taylor, without Brash to start the year? You've got Munoz. But what was the story all of last year is who is your leverage guy before Andres Munoz gets into the game? They need one. They need one badly.

[00:16:37] And they can't wait around for Brash to get back to have one or else you could find them blowing some games early in the year that they really need. So who could that be? It's Gregory Santos. Santos. This guy was brought here to be this. We talked about the idea of this three-headed monster when Santos got traded here last year. We barely got to see it. The guy threw a handful of innings and that was it. He basically was injured all year. Brock and Salk love to call Gregory Santos the idea. That's their nickname for him. They call him the idea.

[00:17:06] Because there's this world where Gregory Santos can be absolutely disgusting and lights out in your bullpen. But it was a dream last year. Because it never really came to fruition because he was always injured. If you get 100th percentile Gregory Santos or even 85th to 88th percentile Gregory Santos, it's really, really valuable and a guy you need to help bridge things from the starter to eventually Munoz in the ninth.

[00:17:32] Will Gregory Santos shed his idea label, which I'll throw him in the idea bucket with Abe Toro? No. Santos has actually had big league success and dominated in a season. They talked about Toro in a higher light than they did Santos. Well, I think that's wrong. Santos had a very... Oh, really? No way! Really?

[00:18:02] Listen, do I need to get you some tissues to wipe those tears out of your eyes for people being mean to Abe Toro? No. No, you don't. Are you sure? Yeah. I think I do. I think I do. Mm-mm. No. It was always an idea of having Abe Toro at DH. Never an actual strategy, though. Gregory Santos... Sorry. Tommy La Stella or Abe Toro at DH? Pick your poison. God.

[00:18:34] This is a trick question. You gotta pick... Because I would rather have Abe. Wow. Look at you, dog. Look at you. Unfortunately. All right. Tommy was... Bad. Let me just remind people, in 2023, Gregory Santos had a .339 ERA across 60 appearances for the White Sox. And his FIP was .265.

[00:19:01] Yeah, this guy can be dominant when he's healthy. And he's been dominant. He just needs to stay on the field. Remember what Pitching Ninja told us when we had him on the pod back in May or so? And we were asking him about Santos? He's like, how does nobody talk about this guy? He's absolutely disgusting. And nobody does. And that's what he said. It's true. Because he didn't throw that year. That's why. No. This was... Again, he was expected to start the year hurt.

[00:19:27] But we had him on in May of 2024 when he had just come off the 23 season. And Rob was like, yeah, this guy's disgusting. People don't talk about him enough. He's almost baseball's best-kept secret in the bullpen. Oh, I remember. But we were two months into the season and he hadn't thrown a pitch. That's why. Right. Point being, you could really use Pete Gregory Santos this year. The ideal label, you could throw on most of the Mariners' bullpen at this point. The Mariners' bullpen right now. Love a lot of those guys.

[00:19:57] Sauce has been great to us. So has Gabe. So has Colin. But the group as a whole in terms of production is right now an idea based off of what they did last year. Yeah. Yeah. And I think we both think Gabe can absolutely bounce back now that he's had a lot more time to get right. But. We don't know. You don't. Exactly. You don't know for sure. You have to see it. Right.

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[00:21:20] Let's get to our next question. This comes from Kyler on Instagram. The question is, what if the Mariners are actually good this year and everything works out? Yeah, so I've thought about this.

[00:21:31] If that happens, if this team, after all the discourse and all the headlines and all the narratives of this offseason, come out and somehow win 97 games just in some ridiculous scenario like that, or even if they win 90 and get into the playoffs, a lot of people, us included, are going to have to walk back what we said about this offseason and the way Jerry operated. We will. If they make the playoffs, something worked.

[00:22:01] And in that case, we will say, look, we were wrong. We demanded more. And they evidently didn't need it in the regular season because they found a way to get in the playoffs. Now, do I think that's going to happen? We'll see. But if we're wrong, we'll walk it back. Everybody will. Well, you're very nice with that.

[00:22:28] That was a very unlile-like acknowledgement of what would happen. I'll take it a step further for both of us. If that happens, if they go out and they win the West and they win a couple of playoff series, Jerry DiPoto and John Stanton have an open invite to come on this podcast and tell us we suck at our jobs. And they can do the gritty. On the main concourse during the middle of a Saturday fireworks night. But look how beautiful they are. And we're in first place.

[00:22:58] Okay. But they have to be holding a bobblehead, too, that they gave out pregame. Bobbleheads and fireworks, teach. No, so they'll be doing the gritty, but they'll be giving out bobbleheads on the concourse that say, I'm right. There's going to be Jerry DiPoto bobbleheads. While fireworks are going off for fireworks night, yes. Yeah. Right. And you know what? During fireworks night, which they always play music for, they can play Right Foot Creep by NBA Youngboy while those guys do the gritty. Yeah.

[00:23:28] Open invite, Jerry DiPoto, John Stanton, Chris Larson. If you guys are right about this offseason, you can come on here. Lyle and I won't say a word and you can just rip us to shreds. You can have Lyle's rant from Wednesday's episode tape recorded to get yourself fired up to come on this podcast and tell us we suck. Open invite. Because you know what? All the shit we would get from that would be validated by the fact that my baseball team won 97 games. Mm-hmm.

[00:23:59] And you know what? After that, they're going to have to go on Baseball Tonight with Jeff Passan and then Foul Territory and then a bunch of other outlets in Seattle Sports Media. I hope they do. Talk about content. Ugh. Everywhere. It would be great. Wait. If they get it right, if they have a great year despite not making a ton of acquisitions in the offseason, yes, we will say we were wrong. Jerry's going back on Brock and Salk?

[00:24:30] You never know. He might want to have his victory lap. I'm not going to lie. Yeah, he might. Anyways, yeah, the Mariners are welcome if they win 97 games to do literally whatever they want. Yeah. I don't care. Oh, speaking of that, by the way, quickly before we transition, we weren't going to spend a whole mailbag question on this, but somebody did send us a message on Instagram and said,

[00:24:59] Lyle, have you met Boy Howdy since you've been on the show? And yes, I have. A couple times. But obviously he's not in that job anymore. He works elsewhere now. But yes, I have him. Is he going to be at spring training? Because he was at spring training last year. I think he said he's not. I think he's just got a bunch of family stuff that he's doing. But was he there when we were there? No, he was there when Brock and Salk were there last year. That makes sense. Yeah. Him and Scott got a photo. That's right. He was just in.

[00:25:27] He was just at the station the other day and catching up with a bunch of people. But actually, him and I ran into each other at a Mariners game in August, September of last year, 2024. And we both knew who each other were. We followed each other for a bit. And yeah, we caught up for a while, which was cool. So anyway, I think it was Curtis who sent that question in. That's your answer. Yes, we met and we know each other at this point. And there was another question. I don't have the name that was definitely directed at me because it's been made very apparent in plenty of episodes.

[00:25:57] Who drinks coffee on this podcast and who doesn't? I'm going to try and get the name as I answer this question. The question was, how do I take my coffee? It's a great question. I would ask Lyle how he takes his coffee, but Lyle would shrivel his nose up and he wouldn't even bother to. He'd be like, yeah, you're soft if you drink coffee. I'm going to be honest. Well, you don't need it. I function throughout the day. That's what matters, right? Tastes good. Does it?

[00:26:27] It's like having a routine. Routines are good. You fall asleep more often throughout the day than I do. Oh, I'm sorry. What time is your alarm going off? A lot later than yours are. But hey, coffee helps. If you had some coffee, maybe you'd fall asleep last. This comes, Brady asked me how I take my coffee just with milk. Thank you, Brady. I've been waiting for a question like that. Let's go. Let's go. People want to know the important things.

[00:26:56] Coffee does not taste good. Well, you can add a bunch of crap to it and it'll taste great. Well, sure, if it's a macchiato, but then that's not even really coffee. No, not really. No, not really. You can stick with your energy drinks, your five-hour energies, whichever you like. Yeah, and I only have those very, very rarely when it's an absolute must to have some sort of caffeine. You'll have some this weekend when this episode comes out. Yeah, you'll probably actually have one today when the episode comes out. I'll almost guarantee it.

[00:27:24] Here are the times I drink those five-hour energies, which, yes, if I'm going to have caffeine, that's what I pick because it's small, not a bunch of calories, and you can just take it quick. But I usually have them when TJ and I fill in on Brock and Salt because we won't get a lot of sleep, and then you have to be very awake for four straight hours. Or when we're on these trips with our friends where we're walking around doing all these things all day, out at night, and then don't get much sleep. So it's usually those two scenarios. Speaking of calories, you know coffee is just water, right? Yeah, I know.

[00:27:54] Yeah, okay. Good. Just checking. And, oh, you know what? I'll have some in spring training too, five-hour energies because that's another time we're Yeah, we'll need some. That'll be long. It'll be caffeine and Leo's Island with Ryan Divish. Yes. Okay, next question. All right, let's get to it. Next question comes from Giordano Blanco, also on Instagram. He says, which Mariner is primed for the biggest bounce back in 2025?

[00:28:23] Tough question. A lot of good candidates. I'm going to make the decision on a guy who's not going to have the biggest volume of bounce back, but I think will be put in the best situation to bounce back, and that's Mitch Garver. He's not going to have to catch every day. He's probably going to only have to catch once or twice a week. They're going to only hit him against lefties, which is something he did well last year in T-Mobile Park. So that makes you feel better.

[00:28:49] And he also has the highest offensive upside of all the guys who struggled, quote unquote, or actually struggled last year. And by the way, I don't count Julio in this. Julio still was well above average, had a good season on the non-Julio scale, had a good season, so he doesn't count in this. So that's why I'm going to go Mitch Garver over someone like JP Crawford, who I think if JP bounced back would have more total impact.

[00:29:15] But when I talk about the best fit and the most likely, I'm going to say Mitch Garver. Remember, we're both going with former twins here because I'm taking Polo. I'm taking Jorge Polanco. He's just too proven with too much of a track record and not old enough to just fall off a cliff. I really, really think that injury just took him down too far last year to the point where it was just hard to play.

[00:29:41] I mean, there's now been reports that they think it was bothering him all year, which would make a lot of sense because he just didn't look right. He didn't look like the Jorge Polanco that they traded for him to be and had the expectation for him to be. Again, even if he's not going to hit 33 bombs in a season again, he can still be a 115 to 120 WRC plus hitter. That's what he was in the final two years of Minnesota before being traded over. He was 117 and 118. He can be that. He can still be that.

[00:30:09] I'm not saying he's going to play elite level defense at third base, but he can absolutely still hit. So after what happened last year, do I think a healthy Jorge Polanco can get back to being an above average hitter that really contributes while also not being asked to be the three hitter on the team? He'd be the sixth or seventh hitter. Yeah, I do. What about his glove? Again, he's probably not going to play great defense, but I'm talking about his bat. Okay, good. Yeah, we're both focused on the bats because I'm not convinced Mitch Garver is going to be a world beater behind home plate.

[00:30:38] There's a reason he's going to catch once a week. I'd rather have Cal back there all the time. Yeah, that's what he does. Well, with Perry Hill, maybe they can work on some things with Polo, especially if he's going to be healthy. I'm not sitting here and telling you he's going to win a gold glove, but maybe there are some things that can help improve his defense. He doesn't have the strongest arm in the world, but arm strength makes me nervous. Yeah, and that's fair. He doesn't have a great arm, but maybe he can get to a few more baseballs this year if he's healthy. We'll have to see.

[00:31:08] Both would be very important. I'd say Polo would have a bigger total impact on the team. Well, because he's being asked to play in an everyday role right now. Garver is essentially going to be the backup catcher that hits lefties. Though I'm going to be honest, if Garver starts hitting well, he's going to go from part-time to full-time player because that's where the status of this roster is. Great. If Garver goes to being the full-time DH because he's hitting that well, awesome. Please sign me up for that. Please.

[00:31:35] Wow, that's a roster without many holes, one where the backup catcher becomes the full-time DH. Let's get to the next question here. This comes from Andre Welch. Andre's question on Instagram is, is it worth the M spending money now and not being able to re-sign their core later? I gave this some thought.

[00:32:00] And my answer to this is, yes, the Mariners need to be spending now because there is no guarantee, you guys, that anybody from this core is going to want to sign an extension here. There's just no guarantee. You know what would make them further want to be here? Is if the team's winning and if they're being shown that the team is invested in winning and bringing in the type of players to prove that they're investing in winning and then

[00:32:27] they're going and doing it and then they have a different perception of the city and the team and the organization if they're doing those things and it results in winning. If they just continue to operate the way they've operated over the last few seasons, it's really going to be hard to get these core guys to stay. Maybe one of them will. Maybe somebody stays. In a dream scenario, maybe two between the three of Cal, Logan, George. But it's going to be hard, especially if you keep operating the way you've been operating.

[00:32:57] I like your answer. I'd say very general version of the answer. Let me reframe it a different way. If the budget doesn't change at all, how would you answer this question? Like, let's say the budget is set at $155 million. How would you answer this? I'm thinking here. Yeah, it's tough. It's not easy because I was thinking about that.

[00:33:22] And if that was the budget, it's tough, but I would rather re-sign the core. The question you have to ask yourself is, is the core more valuable than signing a free agent because they're not making any money or because they're better players? Because ultimately, you'd want better players on the team. Is it worth it having a $40 to $50 million player that you want to pay on the roster over a player making $12 million? That's part of your future.

[00:33:53] But the player you sign in free agency might be a little bit better. He just makes more money. It's hard to find guys as valuable as Logan Gilbert and as Cal Raleigh in free agency. So that's why my answer would be re-signing. But the thing is, when you re-sign them, they're no longer the most valuable players possible because they're making market value. Right. It's tough. So I would lean re-sign.

[00:34:18] If the budget doesn't change and it stays at $155 million, I would re-sign the guys currently on the roster. What's Logan Gilbert worth on the open market right now, especially the way it keeps inflating? $40 million a year? $35? $35 to $40. Yeah. It's a lot. But once he gets a contract like that with the length, the value, as good of a pitcher as he is, the value drops in terms of an asset. Right.

[00:34:48] Because right now he's not making much at all. And to think if you were to sign, if you were going to spend money now, you would have to move valuable players off your roster to sign those players. Right. So that's the sacrifice you'd have to make. Now, if you re-sign your core, you would have to do the same thing. Definitely. Because it's only $155 million. But there's some money coming off the books here soon, just between the two Mitches. We'll see what happens with Luis, etc.

[00:35:18] That might all get offset by our braces, though. We'll see. There'll be more space. There'll be more space. Just enough space to spend on top of re-signing your core. Yeah. Is. Yeah. You see how calm I just stayed through that segment? We got a question about spending and budget. And I was calm, cool, and collected. Look at me, dog. It's a new while. New month. New mindset. New season. I told you, I needed to get that ran off my chest. I had to get it all out. I had to pour my soul out into those feelings.

[00:35:48] And now we've tied a bow on hot stove in the offseason. And we've moved past it. Well, certainly this next question won't get your blood boiling. You ask it. I'll ask the final one. You go ahead. Will Lyle blow a gasket with this question? Let's see if he gets through it. Cole, thank you for the question on Instagram. Cole asks, if you could ask John Stanton one question that he has to answer truthfully, what would it be?

[00:36:18] I respect you, Cole. I respect you. You're trying to get me to break. You're trying to bait me. You're trying to bait me. And you know what? I'm not going to let it happen. I'm not. I'm not. I got everything out that I needed to get out the other day. But I will answer the question seriously and still keep my similar mindset without just totally exploding. What would my question be? Show us the books.

[00:36:45] Or if you want it in the form of a question, can you please show us the books? And if he has to answer truthfully, he would show us. And why I say that is if you want anybody to believe a single word that you say about what your financials are and what the budget truly is, then prove it. Prove to everybody what your budget and numbers are and they'll believe you. Or if you're lying, which I think a lot of people feel like they are, then we'll know.

[00:37:14] So can we reframe your question? So if he asked to answer truthfully, but there's no truth in asking, can I see the books? But he has them so he could show us. But I'm just reading into the weeds of this question a little bit. Answer truthfully. So how about this question?

[00:37:41] If you're willing to hear another version of it. What do we want? What was the David Sampson? David Sampson says, have 50% of revenue is your payroll budget. That's the number we want to know, right? All right. So we can, we can ask that. Are you spending roughly 50% of your budget on payroll? Or you could say, what's your revenue? Yeah, because payrolls are public. Payrolls are public. So you could ask, what's your revenue?

[00:38:10] So my question to John would be, who gets final say on decisions? You, Chris Larson, or someone else? And I want to know, because I want to know who to blame when stuff goes wrong. We guess a lot. We've thrown a lot of names out here on who to blame when the budget doesn't get spent and it gets set at arbitrary number like $15 million. I want to know who. So every single time something knows wrong, we know who to blame. Great.

[00:38:40] I think that'd be a great service to the Mariners community. Great service to the Mariners community. Now, when you say, who is it to blame? The very likely scenario here is it's one of two people. It is either Chris Larson or John Stanton. You're right. But I would feel so much better if they told me which one. See, I'm not going on a tangent. Not going on a tangent. We've turned the page for now.

[00:39:09] For now. Until the next PR disaster happens. Until there's another press conference. See, I didn't even blow up over a Jerry DiPoto press conference. Some people did. That's for sure. But I didn't totally blow up. I mean, look, I was not a fan of a bunch of the quotes. But I think if there was a John Stanton presser that went that way, I'd be feeling a lot different. Hmm. You must have been one of the few Jerry was talking. Oh, you weren't. Sorry.

[00:39:39] One of the few Jerry was talking about. No, no, no, no. I wasn't thrilled to see him say those quotes. I was very unhappy just like everybody else. I'm joking. But. But. By the way, we totally missed that part of the quote. I'm disappointed. Which part? Well, where Jerry says, like, our roster's in a good place despite the opinions of a few. Oh, yeah. Well, I thought we did talk about it and said, no, there's a whole fan base.

[00:40:09] Wow. Oh, OK. So I think I think Salk talked about it more than we did. Sorry. Let me reframe that. OK. Last question. Speaking of speaking of people that did blow up over the depot oppressor. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. It was great. It was great. You didn't even have to chime in. You just sat there. Oh, I was laughing. Yes. Again, let me make that clear.

[00:40:36] I was not happy, just like everybody else to see those quotes. It was a bad press conference. Very bad. On brand. Last question, Lyle. All right. Let's do it. Final one. This comes from Eric Fitch on Instagram. And he says, I'd love to hear your tips on how a fan can make the most of their spring training visit. Hmm. A lot of steps to this plan.

[00:41:03] The first piece of advice I have for any fan, and let's assume this is their first time, because he's asking the question. I think the people who would want to know this the most are going for the first time. So let's act like Eric has never been to spring training before. Even if he has, let's act like he hasn't. My number one piece of advice for spring training is you need to pick a day they play a day game at home.

[00:41:29] I think that's the perfect encapsulation of events to choose. So it starts off with you getting there early. I think the Mariners open the fields at 8 or 9, one of those two times. I think 9 o'clock. That sounds right. So you get there right at 9. So you can park your car and you can go in the backfields. So note the time here. Mariners will start their spring training games usually at about 1 o'clock at home. They have a few night games, but don't go to the night games. You're there for the sun. Just go during the day.

[00:41:59] And it's a lot warmer. It gets really cold at night in Phoenix during the spring. So you get there early. And you go walk around the backfields. Go right up to the fence. The Mariners are really good about letting fans roam around and watch their players up close and personal. Just something some other teams don't let you do. And you should be very thankful that the Mariners do let that happen. They're very gracious that they let that happen at their spring training complex. It is really to the benefit of the fans.

[00:42:29] I did kind of sneak in. They're doing you a favor, aren't they? In that. Hmm. Oops. Anyways. Maybe they are doing it at the spring training complex. Because I'll tell you what. I remember I went to the Guardians one once in Goodyear. They have a fence blocking off all the backfields. Can't walk back there. You're being the negative Nancy on this podcast. Look at you. Accidental. Second thing I would recommend is don't be afraid to say hi to anybody.

[00:43:01] There's only one time all year you're going to be that close to a player in such an informal environment. Player, media member, us. Right? Where it's not going to be, hey, these games count. There's a lot of corporate dollars at hand. People are doing business things. Da-da-da-da-da-da. They have things to do. Spring training is so relaxed. Everyone's very laid back. So that would be the time if you're trying to strike up a conversation with us. With Ryan Divish. You're trying to say hi to Cal. Up close and personal.

[00:43:31] That would be the time. I mean, can't hurt. Right? Or any of these prospects. A lot of these prospects are out there on the backfields. Playing and practicing. Not huge crowds around them. So if you walk up and shake someone's hand and say hello. Like they'd appreciate that. It's the only time everyone's all in the same place at the same time. And I think everyone likes that a lot. And I already mentioned one of my last points here. Go to the day games. And it's warm. It's a better environment. If you like to drink, it's a good day drinking environment. Sit out on the berm.

[00:44:01] Or you sit in the sun with a seat. Watch the games. And you're not going to sit in a ton of traffic going back. It's just great. That's what spring training is. Going to day games at Peoria or wherever you decide to go. And I do have one last point here. Go to Leo's Island. Oh my god. It's good. We've got some crossover here. I have Leo's Island on there. So good. I can't believe we didn't even know what it is until last. I mean we knew what it was, but we never had it until last year.

[00:44:30] I got to tell you, Leo's Island should be giving Ryan Divish some sponsor dollars. He's brought them some business. That's our first stop. Yeah. There's other food in the valley that we like. Some of it's fast food, but Raising Cane's, In-N-Out, stuff that we don't really get to get around here very much. So we love. So places like that. There's a deli that we love called DeFalco's, which is in Phoenix. Like if you want food recommendations for us, we can throw a few out because we've spent plenty of time down in the valley.

[00:44:58] TJ loved this place called ATL Wings if you like wings. So we've got food recommendations if you're looking for them. But spring training specifically, my first note like you was go to the backfields. And if you're at the backfields, look, by all means spend your time around the big league guys. You want an autograph from Julio. If you want an autograph from JP. If you want one from Logan. Whoever. I get it. Spend your time doing that.

[00:45:23] I will also say it is quite the show when Julio's walking around at spring training because you will have legitimately hundreds of people yelling his name whenever people see him out on the concourse anywhere that he walks by. Oftentimes he has to run by because he just doesn't have time to sign 150 autographs and everybody wants one. But yes, if you want autographs from guys like that or you want to try to talk to guys like that, I get it. Spend your time doing it.

[00:45:50] But I would recommend even more than that. Go all the way to the back in Peoria. The very back backfields, a.k.a. Where a bunch of these minor league guys are working out. And let me tell you a quick little story from our end and why it can be cool for anybody that's there to experience. You can meet some minor league guys, have face-to-face time with them before they're ever big stars. You really can. Everybody's focused on most of the guys in big league camp.

[00:46:20] And it's a scattered few that go all the way back to those backfields at the complex where all the minor leaguers are and go hang around those guys. For example, around this time last year, Felning Celestine had not done one single type of media thing, period. He just hadn't. There was all this hype and buzz around the guy. But nobody had ever gotten him for an interview or for really any sort of anything.

[00:46:50] But we walked back there last year. He was on one of the backfields with a few of the other minor leaguers. Nobody is back there besides maybe one or two other people. One of the guys happened to know him a little bit and was bilingual. And he said he'd be happy to translate an interview for us. And we were fired up. We're like, oh, my God. Like, nobody has talked to this guy yet. Shout out Luis. Shout out Luis. Actually, hopefully we see him again at spring training. That'd be awesome. But we were like, this is going to be sick. Nobody has talked to this guy yet.

[00:47:20] And we got him. We asked him a few fun questions. He was really cool. I mean, you can tell how high his upside is just from getting to sit and watch him for a few minutes back there. And now he knows who we are. We saw Felning again, or at least I did. You were still in Corvallis at the time. I saw Felning again at the end of the year up at T-Mobile Park in Seattle when they did the minor league awards. And he remembered exactly who I was. So if you are a fan, spend your time at the big league area.

[00:47:48] But when those guys eventually go off to play their game and go inside, go back to the backfield, the very back, the minor league areas. Because you can straight up strike conversations up with people if you find the right guy to talk to. Because there is so – there's such a fewer amount of people back there. There really is. And it's really cool and a really cool chance to make some relationships or just get to talk to somebody before they're ever big time. Is that it? Yeah.

[00:48:17] I mean, look, it's not just Felning and Celestine. It could be any prospect you want. It could be any minor leaguer you want. But there's not just – there's not a huge crowd of people back there. So if you're interested in that stuff, you could have some pretty cool memories that you take home. And I'd say the last thing for me is take advantage of the fact you're at spring training in Arizona and not Florida. And I'd go visit a few parks. Love the Mariners. But there are some really nice parks in Arizona. Some really cool atmospheres.

[00:48:45] And just get to go spread out and go see a little bit more. It is supposed to be a vacation, a tune-up for all of these guys. So they're not going to – no one's going to hold it against you if you say, oh, I want to go to Camelback Ranch instead today. Go to Scottsdale. Like, I'm not going to blame you. Trust me. Salt River Fields in Scottsdale is very cool. Oh, I get out. Oh, sorry. Camelback's in Glendale. Oops. That's closer to Peoria, actually. So that would be – if you're staying near Peoria, that would actually be better for you.

[00:49:13] But, yes, Salt River in Scottsdale is nice. So is the Giants Park in Scottsdale. Some good spots. Yeah. And there's so many things to go do in Arizona too. If anybody plans to go to Tempe, we can give you any recommendations you want. Again, if you want food recommendations, we can try our best. If you want activity recommendations, we can try our best. I mean, top golf's always fun. There's a bunch of things. But there's a ton of things to do in Arizona. But it's a fun time to go down there and get out of the cold and be around baseball.

[00:49:41] Let me quickly hit on my last two points. You talked about going to all these spring training games. One of my other notes was sit on the lawn. You don't really get to do that at other games. I mean, San Diego has that. It's also really hard to see the game in San Diego. But that's a really cool experience at spring training that you get that's so casual and so laid back with everybody that you don't get during the regular season. So, look, buy your tickets wherever, but go sit on the lawn during the game. It's very, very fun and it's relaxing.

[00:50:11] You can do that at some minor league parks. But, yeah, for big leaguers, absolutely. Not a ton of minor league parks. There's some. And Salt Lake, I know you can. Yeah, so, okay, there's some. But we're talking to Mariners fans right now. You can't do it in Everett. You can't do it in Tacoma. You can't do it in Arkansas. And you can't do it in Modesto. Right. Yep. So, go sit on the lawn. It's really fun. It's really laid back. And, last but not least, if you care about this sort of thing, find us. TJ mentioned it briefly, but find the two of us.

[00:50:41] We will be there. We mentioned it before. We'll be there from February 24th to March 1st. We'll be there the last week of February. And we will be out and about plenty. You guys may just see us because we'll be walking around and very much out in the open outside. But, if any of you are going to be there in that time, seriously, please, do not hesitate to send us a DM and say, hey, we're going to be at a game. We're going to be out at the backfields. Can we meet up at some point? Our answer, absolutely. Yeah, I mean, you could just want to say hello. You could jump on the mic.

[00:51:10] Do some content with us. Like, whatever. We're for the people. Whatever you guys want to do. I mean, we're open to anything and everything at Spring Training. We're hoping to get as much volume as we can because it is, again, rare to have that many people in the same place at the same time. So, that's what we're going to try and do. We can't wait. It is one of my favorite weeks of the year. I love it. I know we've only been once as members of the media, but we've been plenty over the years. And it is always one of my favorite times of the year. Looking forward to it.

[00:51:40] Yeah. Good now, then. We are a little under three. Am I math right? No. Yeah. Yeah, about three weeks. A little under three weeks? A little under three weeks. Yep. Exciting. When this episode comes out, it'll be about two and a half. We'll go from the cold D.C. weather where we're currently sitting or standing as you guys are listening to this podcast to, man, the great heat and sunshine of the valley. I can't wait.

[00:52:08] I wonder what we're doing in D.C. right now as we try to time jump. We'll be in Baltimore. Baltimore. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's right. We're during the daytime on our first day here. We're supposed to head over to Baltimore and do some stuff over there during the day because it's only an hour from D.C. So, yeah. I was going to say, can we time jump forward here? I guess maybe time jumping backwards. Whichever. Yeah. Let's just say that. We're currently in Baltimore right now as you're listening to this. Well, if you're listening in the morning.

[00:52:34] If you're listening afternoon, evening, or any time after Friday, yeah, we're back in D.C. Yeah. Looking forward to it. I'm sure we'll be enjoying it. Yeah. Wednesday's episode, again, we'll be just getting back from D.C. So, Wednesday's episode, we'll have Trevor May on it with us. And it was an awesome interview. We're looking forward to having you guys hear that. And then we'll be back to normal after. Maybe we'll convince Jordan Westberg to come back with us. Oh, that's a great idea. We'll float that idea around.

[00:53:04] For cash considerations. Sure. Yeah. I'll write him a check. That's what he means. Yes. Sure. No, I mean the Mariners pay cash considerations for Jordan Westberg. I know. I'm joking. I'm talking about what I can physically offer Jordan Westberg while we're there. We could buy him. About 50 bucks. We can buy him some crab cakes. Hmm. Does he like crab cakes? Well, if he doesn't, you're in luck because you're going to Seattle.

[00:53:35] I don't like crab cakes. Are you going to eat them? I don't think I really like crab cakes now. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. That would be really awkward if we're trying to pitch Jordan Westberg. We buy him crab cakes. Doesn't eat them. And then we're like, oh, I'm not going to eat them. Well, we tried. I think that would be a pretty good summary of like the Mariners off season. Right? Well, I'm not going to do that on this episode again. I've moved past it. Oh, that's right. New year, new Lyle. Well, not even new year.

[00:54:05] Just new turn of the page. We're past the hot stove season. Close enough. Yeah. Anyway, that was a great mailbag. You guys always send great questions whenever we do mailbags. Please don't hesitate to send us questions. If we didn't get to your question on this one, send it on in the next one. We'd love to answer them. You guys always do a great job with it. And yeah, we keep doing them because they're fun. Before we wrap up, reminders. Live show, February 20th, Thursday, 6 p.m. Moss Bay Hall in Kirkland.

[00:54:31] And this will be the first episode that you can purchase ad-free on our Patreon. Go check it out if that's something you would be interested in. And we will keep adding more ideas and features to that Patreon as time goes on. We're looking forward to it. All right. 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. Please make sure to download Rate and Review 5 Stars. It really does help us out if you do. Those Apple ratings are growing. They're getting up there.

[00:55:01] We'd love to see them keep going. On YouTube, make sure to like, comment, and please hit that subscribe button. Just take a second and do it. It's right there. It's right in front of you. And on social media, we're everywhere. Post content every day. Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube Shorts. Go follow us over there at MarineLayerPod. That's TJ. I'm Lyle. As always, we thank you guys for tuning in. We'll talk to you soon.

[00:55:22] If you love hurricanes, daiquiris, and, well, any rum cocktail, listen up.

[00:56:08] Captain Morgan's about to shake things up like never before. We're talking Bourbon Street, New Orleans, home to legendary drinks and unforgettable moments. But what if we told you the most iconic cocktails here have one thing in common? Hint? That's right.

[00:56:52] That's right. It's rum. Harry. I'm Lyle. But when it hurts, it will have fun but not indulge it. We'll see you soon.