Episode 208: Trevor May (Retired MLB Pitcher)

[00:00:00] Welcome to episode number 208 of the Marine Layer Podcast. We welcome on friend of the pod, retired big leaguer and content creator Trevor May to talk about the Mariners offseason, take a look ahead to this upcoming season, and then discuss with Trevor, who really knows his stuff about this kind of topic, the CBA. He knows just about everything we want to know. And we did a little bit of a preview of what's to come there in a couple of years when the two sides sit down to talk about the collective bargaining agreement.

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[00:01:23] And we welcome you to this episode of the Marine Layer Podcast, part of the Just Baseball Podcast Network, recording on Tuesday, February 4th. Recording this one a little bit farther in advance. A fantastic discussion coming up though with Trevor May. I will note, Lyle, before we jump into our conversation with Trevor May, I would like to let all of our listeners know. So, first of all, yes, I cannot emphasize enough, go check out our Patreon if that's something that might interest you.

[00:01:52] Listening to us, ad-free, you can go find it over there. On top of that, we're really looking forward to some of the content that we can continue to provide you guys going forward, whether it be on the Patreon or whether it be on all of our social media channels or here on the free version of the podcast. Lyle, we're going to be on TV. How about that? Woo! Are you going to wear a tie? No.

[00:02:19] So, we're going to be on Fox 13 Seattle tonight when this episode comes out from 7.30 to 8 o'clock. So, look forward to it. Getting on there. Not sure if we'll be with Alyssa or Aaron on the Washington Sports Wrap, but we're planning on being on there talking a little bit of M's as they get to spring training this week. Well, shout out to them. Shout out to them for letting us come on. I guess they're really, really scraping at the bottom of the barrel for some guests

[00:02:47] where they landed on the freaking marine layer pod. But, jokes aside, this is cool. I don't know if I've ever really been on true standard news type TV before, but it'll be fun. It'll be different. And it's a chance to talk some ball with some people that we know, and hopefully you guys get a chance to watch. So, Channel 13 on your television. If you have antennas, you can also watch it. You don't need cable. Don't need streaming.

[00:03:15] All you need is an intended to watch us. 7.30 to 8 o'clock on Channel 13, Fox 13 Seattle tonight. Really looking forward to it. Just like we love having Trevor May on. Yeah. Last quick thing. I don't know if we're going to be on the full half hour. It may just be a segment, but that is when the show airs. You'll want to watch the whole thing so you don't miss us. Correct? Exactly. Yeah, Trevor is great. Trevor is great. And he had, we tweeted out a clip of his talking about the Mariners offseason

[00:03:43] where he was, you know, very adamant on the F. You brought out the quote he had here on this podcast where he's like, well, you're building your offense. You want an identity. You want to be either, you want to either hit for a high average. You want to get on base at a high rate. You want to be fast. You want to hit for power. You need to pick one. They haven't picked one. Mm-hmm. So among all of those other things, we just had to, after that point, bring Trevor back on, recurring guests, to talk to him about the Mariners offseason.

[00:04:10] We talked to him a little bit about what Mariner fans could be optimistic about going into this upcoming season. And then, as I mentioned in the intro, Trevor knows his stuff about the CBA. He was the team representative for the CBA negotiations, if I have that right, right? I have that right. Believe that. When he was, yeah, when he was with the Twins. Twins are the A's. Sometime later in his career, that's...

[00:04:37] That point of the lockout, it wasn't the A's. Now I'm going to look it up. Either it would have been the Twins or the Mets. I think it was the Twins. It would have been the Twins at that point, right? You can look it up. But anyways, he sat in on those CBA negotiations. He was a Met. That's what I thought. He was a Met. Okay. Well, yeah. Okay. So I wasn't right. He knows a lot about the CBA negotiations. Lyle and I have floated some ideas out there about the CBA and how it could affect the current Mariners timeline.

[00:05:07] So we had to ask Trevor about it. And he clearly knows his stuff about this. All right. Let me clarify. He was with the Mets at the time of the lockout. Maybe he was the Twins representative. We could both be right. Okay. But point being, we know this is also something Trevor's really passionate about. I mean, we spend time. We've spent time hanging out with Trevor, specifically at All-Star Week, which was awesome. And the guy is so much fun to talk baseball with on and off the airwaves. But we know this is a topic he's really passionate about.

[00:05:36] And you hear it in his voice when he's answering these questions. So we wanted to ask him a little bit about it. Look, I know it's not a fun topic, you guys. It's not fun for anybody. Unfortunately, the reality, especially with the way Rob Manfred and some of these greedy owners run their sport, that the two sides may be headed for a real clash of the Titans come 2027 in terms of CBA negotiations and a potential lockout. So we wanted to get Trevor's perspective on it.

[00:06:05] He's very, very much on the player's side, as are we. We get to hear his perspective on it. And he provides and talks about some really intriguing things. And overall, yeah, really fun conversation. We won't keep you guys any longer. Let's get you to that interview with Trevor May. All right. We've got our friend Trevor May on with us. You can find him on Foul Territory. You can find him on his YouTube channel, Trevor May on YouTube, where he's doing Mayday Mondays and a bunch of cool YouTube content constantly.

[00:06:35] You can find him across social media. Trevor, you're a full year or so now into being a retired baseball player and a basically full-on baseball content creator. Has it lived up to the hype for you so far? Yeah, it has. I've had a lot of fun doing it and got to meet a bunch of new people. You guys are part of that group. That's been awesome and figure out how to navigate this world a little bit. So, yeah, a lot of fun stuff planned for this year.

[00:07:04] Hired some people and learning to kind of be a boss a little bit. So it's interesting. We're learning. And there's a lot to learn. It's become abundantly clear to me, especially this first month of the year. But I'm having a blast to get to talk about the things I like to talk about and give my take. And I think that's where I want to be. Can you spill any of the stuff you're going to do this upcoming year? Yeah. I mean, to be honest, a lot of it's already out there.

[00:07:33] It's about getting it rolling. One big thing that I'm having a really great, good time doing is a podcast project, a show project that I've kind of had the idea for for years now. And I wanted to finally get it going where I sit down one on one with a current or former player or coach or someone in professional baseball. And just like hear their stories about when they were 12 all the way to now. And so people can listen to it and, you know, kids can listen to it and know that there's a path.

[00:08:02] And we all came from different random places, you know, middle of nowhere, Indiana, middle of nowhere, Washington, and eventually get there. So the dream is not really out of the reach for anybody that plays baseball anywhere. And it's been a blast called Cutting the Diamond. You can get it anywhere you want. You listen to podcasts. And then, as you mentioned, Mayday. It was Mayday Monday. It's been rebranded to Mayday now. And we do that every Monday, 1 p.m. Pacific time to 3.

[00:08:30] And it's kind of a half scripted, half like live stream show. I'm trying to find what that means because I think that they both have really great merits. And I've had a blast doing that, too. So those were like I moved to a studio. I built like a built whole lighting setup and two camera setup and all kinds of stuff. So that's kind of what was the big rollout for me. And, yeah, it's going to be a whole bunch of that.

[00:08:58] And then like little deep dive documentary style stuff for YouTube and all kinds of things coming out. So it's all going to be in those same channels. It's just going to be different types of stuff that I maybe haven't done in the past. All right. One more time for people that want to check out your new podcast. It's called Cut on the Diamond everywhere you listen to POTS. Cut on the Diamond. And then off that, from now going full time into baseball content since retiring. I know you've done it forever.

[00:09:23] But since really going full on with it, are there things you feel like you've learned in the first year that are either easier, harder, or both than what you were anticipating it to be? A little bit. I think I had an inkling on like how much work it is and like how to be consistent. I've always, I've gone a couple months at a time, you know, in the off seasons and stuff when I was playing, just really going heads down. And then I got kind of a break during the season.

[00:09:52] And so like building in your own breaks and figuring out when you're going to rest around the baseball season some more. It's funny that my life now revolves around the baseball season still. But figuring that out and like calming down sometimes or just taking some time off or just being okay, just like slowing the content down to a trickle for a bit. But that's been the biggest thing, hardest thing for me. And also like how fickle monetization is on platforms.

[00:10:21] And, you know, I've got bones to pick with Twitch with how they change their, they just constantly are raising their prices. And, you know, we all know how Twitter has changed. We all know how Instagram works. And, you know, the TikTok ban going up and everyone being terrified because it was their income. And like, so if you want to do this and you want to do it outside of the, I guess, the traditional methods, it's really hard. You can't be on just one platform.

[00:10:48] So figuring out how to like make this a viable business without, you know, working 100 hours a week is still in the works. I think we're finding some good spots here. But yeah, those are the big things. Like it's limited. It's limited. It's more limited than it used to be, I feel like. But there's still a lot of opportunity out there. So that's, those are the, those are the big problems that I've been thinking about a lot lately. Yeah.

[00:11:11] Everything you're saying there, I think all of us in the, in the creator community can echo that as we try to, to navigate and make some money and find some time for all this stuff. And it's, it's certainly an adventure, but Trevor, speaking of making things hard, the Mariners make good PR and good off seasons hard, difficult. As we want to sort of transition to the baseball aspect of this. I saw, we've, we tweeted out the clip you had on, on, on your show.

[00:11:37] And you were talking about the Mariners lack of moves this off season. How would you describe what you felt watching them do what they did this, this off season? Yeah, it's, it's confusing. So traditionally, you know, I feel like there's a lot of things that are just randomly happening in sports that just don't make any sense. Lately with a shout out to Luca. I it's frustrating to watch for a couple reasons one yeah when you fire your manager before the

[00:12:06] season ends that is a that is a signal that we understand that changes need to be made and that we are underperforming you don't fire manager when you're happy with how things are going so that's what that's supposed to do but then if you go into an offseason where there's a lot of free agents available and a lot of teams looking for starting pitching so you don't have to go sign a bunch of guys but you can just like use one or two of your your prizes because you have

[00:12:32] a five-man rotation with a bunch of guys but you know you have tons of depth and development too you you know you go out there and you you make a savvy move and grab a grab a guy a bat that you need with using that capital and they just refuse to do it so I was just like when you do nothing if you fire your manager it tells me almost like it was a little bit of a show like it just kind of a lip service move they there was no intention to change anything really they just needed a scapegoat

[00:12:59] and uh it couldn't be more abundantly clear when you're your two free agent signs are re-signing Jorge Blanco who I'm still high on I think that he can make a resurgence I understand why Mariners fans aren't as a whole that makes a lot of sense he would agree with you too he's he's not happy with his production last year and I don't think he was right you know I think the surgery is an indicator of that um and I think there there's better Jorge Blanco in the future but he was on the team last year so that's not really you know anything moves uh moves a needle and then you've

[00:13:27] got a utility infielder who's in his mid-30s in Donovan Solano like he's a great player I love to I love I think he's a rock solid player and if he's the fifth best player on on a good team like that's that's what you're looking for because he's just not going to hurt you but like they're going to need more from him that I think he is going to capable of giving them and that's going to be glaring in Seattle that it wouldn't be glaring on another team like when he was on

[00:13:52] you know the Mariners or not the Mariners sorry the twins for example uh in 2023 so um and that's all you're going to do not only that we're going to sign for Jorge Blanco and be like you're our third baseman now he's never played third base like how are these how are these the the options how are these the the solutions to these pretty big glaring problems uh that you we thought you knew or you thought you you thought you saw and uh and then nothing really happens yeah so two things off

[00:14:19] of that number one I think both TJ and I are believers in a Jorge Polanco bounce back it was very clear the knee was bothering him last year and a couple other things too it's very clear that that was a career low for him guys usually don't fall off at 30 31 years old especially when you've got the track record that he does so we're in on that but to your point about the additions the additions thing is real and and Jerry DiPoto just talked the other day mentioning how well with our additions of a Rosarena Polanco and Solano a lot of people sat there scratching their heads thinking

[00:14:49] to themselves Rosarena and Polanco are not additions they were on the roster last year and you missed the playoffs like Solano's an addition but that was your only addition so there's just not a lot of addition after you fire a manager like you talked about and I think that's where the frustration and gripes of a lot of fans play in if that's fair I I it is absolutely fair and and I understand how that gets this falls in deaf ears after you say it enough you know I think that like a guy's hurt all

[00:15:17] year who has been a big part of your team and then comes back to the all-star break and you say we're getting our guy or one of our guys back who we we we have written into our depth chart has been there the whole time he's just been hurt that is a different situation the including Randy Rosarena and and like infer that he's gonna play better next year which he's still one of them even last year when he struggled his production when he like he was still clutch he just wasn't doing much when he like in

[00:15:43] the middle and and and that's his mo I'm I'm high on a Randy I think Randy's gonna be better this year too how much better I don't think even if these guys play out of their minds it's still not enough like that's the point like you're banking on guys being double what they were and I think it's only fair to say if we get 20 percent more we're happy with an improvement that's all you can really bank on uh with guys like that and so to include two of the three guys it's just if it's almost like

[00:16:12] it comes off sometimes as insulting your fans intelligence like they don't know or something and like you see something that they don't and I think that's the tone that he takes sometimes and I don't I don't even know if it's I don't think it's in on purpose I just think that's the way he is um but like no like it's just that's that's not they're not new they're there you didn't make the playoffs and you kind of slowly did you saw a team follow like slowly catch up with you for

[00:16:38] three months and there was nothing you could do about it and that's the issue there was no it was it was I hope that they help us out as opposed to we can take it we can we can take control of our own destiny because we have bats it felt like they were just trying to hold on and that's how the the lineups built um like man I really hope Cal hits a three on homer today like that's really really what it is and we have Julio putting lots of pressure on himself as is I don't blame that

[00:17:03] either he's 24 years old and he's got making the most money on the team and he wants you know to excite people so like there there's a lot of that I just it's hard to look at the clubhouse and say oh they're they think that you we're doing everything we can to be the best that they're going to get what they need to be the best version of themselves uh they have to be on the same page there it doesn't feel like they are so um yeah it sucks to see see comments like that happen um

[00:17:28] but it just seems to be his mo how do they get Julio to put less pressure on himself well it's going to come with maturity I mean uh experience will help uh and we see it every single year I feel like he starts off he's super pumped and then over the year like he starts to get going he finds it somewhere because he he like settles in and it's not just he's not using pure energy to do it I think he's always just played and it's been an energy just go out and be a

[00:17:57] kid and and the energy takes care of itself uh but major league baseball that only lasts so long and the older you get the more you learn how to kind of pull back when you need to a guy who I think has developed from who had a lot of that kind of spunky you know bounce around energy who is then now kind of settled in to be the uh the the consummate vet that kind of conserves his energy is like jb crawford operates that way right he he runs when he needs to run he he jobs when he needs to job

[00:18:25] uh he he goes hard for a ball he needs to go hard for a ball he knocks the ball down when he needs to but he's like not going to make the dumb throw like that kind of stuff that's the hooli roger is like we're going to look at he's going to like not take make throw try to throw everybody out at home for example because he still does he makes the throw pretty much every single time goes for it like uh Bryce Harper had to do this he had to stop trying to throw everybody out even though he's good at it uh that's going to be something you notice with him like he's just going to take his shots figure out kick his shots and he's going to do that at the plate as well so

[00:18:53] i think every year you get closer to that um and i think that cal raleigh is a good he's also learning too he's young so like those two guys are going to be your core for a while hopefully if if cal is assigned to an extension um and i hope he is uh at some point but you know those two it's just he's just going to have to continue to learn and get some veteran presence in there i think that the more veterans he's around the better he'll get

[00:19:19] there's been so much negativity and frustration over what the mariners have done this offseason to improve or really not improve the roster and in ways that many would put it but let's take the other side of this because i'm curious to get your perspective on this for the mariners to have a good season which i still think is possible given everything that's gone on i still think this is a competitive roster that if things fall the right way can have a competitive season so from your point of

[00:19:44] view what has to happen for the mariners to be competitive and find some way into the playoffs this year well they're all gonna have to stay healthy which you know there's not a lot of they can't really lose much uh especially in the lineup if they lost you know if they lose julio for any length of time or they lose cal you know god forbid it's like they just can't lose one of those guys for more

[00:20:08] than you know a single uh a single you know ielston you just simply can't and that is not a place you want to be you know we'll use the the dodgers for example they can lose their entire team and still probably win that division that's how many guys they have um and depth is really important in this game because like i said the season's so long and you lose guys um so

[00:20:31] they're very they're very their production is very concentrated in in two or three guys and uh that is not a positive so they need them to stay healthy uh two they're gonna need some help from the from the division um you know the angels by all accounts seemed like they're getting better the a's got better uh texas you can't count on mark mark mark simian and and core seeker to to have down years again

[00:20:59] uh like i would anticipate their track records too when they're not having the they don't have their best years the next year is usually pretty pretty good so they're probably i feel like texas might be the team to beat this this time around um with you know the starting pitcher they still have the best pitching though the mariners do so they're going to need their pitching to carry them and they're going to need their three guys who produce to to score all the runs um and then we need we need one of the prospects to come up be be exciting and now i don't know which one that is you know i know

[00:21:27] that like locklear is probably the closest to like playing a lot um you know we got some other guys who are getting closer who are in double a uh but and they have the i believe they're ranked number one now in the prospects keep long out of the one yeah so maybe we i at this point i'm like let's rush them up like just get them up there um because you got to see what you got anyways and and and you gotta

[00:21:53] you gotta you gotta take advantage of this this group of young pitchers who are all going to start entering or getting deeper into arb or going to free agency we got logan gilbert's gonna be more expensive george kirby's only gonna get more expensive after this year um matt brash is gonna be more expensive after this year like all these guys are gonna get more expensive you have great pitching so it's like when you have one side of the ball covered you gotta you gotta take advantage of the other side yeah but they need a young guy to come up and produce too that's the third thing i would say

[00:22:20] so cole young's another name you can definitely throw in there because he seems to be the guy that the team views as the long-term solution at second base and they think we'll see him at some point this year so that could be a guy that definitely contributes you just sparked a question though while we're going through the al west here and talking about the teams that have improved are the a's gonna be frisky this year the way they hit in the second half of last year there's a part of me that thinks people i'm not gonna sit here and say they're gonna win 90 plus games but

[00:22:46] i feel like there's a world they could be a frisky team this year they always are like you can't really keep them down for too long there's a certain thing there's a certain uh vibe that like the guys just hang they're a good close group of guys um and now i think they got their you're the young core that's now growing together with uh brent rooker just blossoming into being a top five hitter like a he's one

[00:23:10] of the he is production wise one of the best bats you could get um and he's underrated in a lot of ways uh and him anchoring that him staying healthy uh and then lawrence butler being what he was last year was ridiculous um you know we even had uh you know we even had some some of the other guys take steps back uh take steps back but like they they they all get good at the same time um it's it's it's all

[00:23:38] she wrote so i i'm excited to see shayling leaders continue to hit bombs i mean you know he i believe did i think he got to 30 maybe hit 29 uh 30 home runs is production as a catcher uh and he is i think really underrated as well and if he keeps getting better with another year there's belt so they're gonna hit it's just gonna be what are we gonna get out of the pitching um like what's what what louis severino they're gonna have you know they just can't compete with the mariners with pitching

[00:24:05] you just can't so but their lineup is gonna be dangerous it's gonna be one of those ones if you take them don't take them serious they're gonna drop 10 on you you're gonna you're gonna be not feeling great about it but uh we'll see what how the vibe changes the college team had a lot to do with this it is daunting to play in that park against them um that was it's funny a lot of people talk about oh this place stinks and like it's old and whatever but like the home team has an advantage it is it's a tough place it's just so much different than everywhere else it's a tough place get used

[00:24:32] to um so it's gonna be it's gonna be interesting to see how more of a normal park in sacramento plays for them um and with the smaller you know crowd and all that kind of stuff if that's a benefit for them or not so i'm gonna be paying attention to that but yeah i wouldn't count them out either and same with the angels i just wouldn't i think their young guys are i think netto and shanwell and and hop oh hoppy are like are legit are legit guys and you can't you can't write them off

[00:24:56] you can't write them off to switch subjects here trevor before we uh to just to make sure we get this in so lyle and i are a little paranoid about this upcoming lockout and how it's going to affect the mariners and let me lay out what exactly lyle and i are concerned about as they head forward for these next two years before the cba expires so the mariners are obviously trying to sign their guys to long-term extensions and they have a clock on some of these guys which would be nearing its end

[00:25:24] of team control right around when we would assume a work a lockout will happen after the 2026 season is there a chance by the way you would think that a team would operate with a if they were unable to sign these guys to an extension before that period where they could move their trade window to trade one of their core pieces before that happens um that is a strategic move that they could do

[00:25:55] um but i don't think we have enough information about what the cba negotiators are going to look at like yet um like so but the next two years will be very telling as well kind of in the media you'll start to notice like a laundry list but both sides are kind of putting out there and they both start to drop hints about the things they care about and things they want to address uh the deferment thing is it'd be interesting to see where they line up because i think both sides are kind of interested

[00:26:20] in addressing that uh because to be honest it like you know the dodgers doing doing it all the time is good but deferments in general just aren't great for players they're just they're not they're better for the teams they they help the teams out a lot more so uh but the teams really don't want it a lot most of the owners don't want it so like because they're not doing it and so it's interesting because both of them don't really like it that much uh and only a couple do so we'll see where they line

[00:26:46] up there and that's gonna i think that's gonna tell us a lot about how those things are gonna go so it but if they anticipate it being kind of a foregone conclusion that there's going to be a work stop or there's going to be games missed then i would not put that past uh of the ownership and jerry to do because that would be that's the type of like i don't know premeditated thinking that they take pride in um but i don't think it will never it'll just be again it'll just be like

[00:27:13] let's let's hold pat where we are we're happy with how things are and uh that that wouldn't be great i just they i hope they don't but uh but i think we need to wait and see how where we come down and how serious this salary cap conversation is because we're seeing for the first time in a long time we're hearing some owners blatantly say the term salary cap and how they want it like just saying it usually they dance around it they try to make it seem like it's something that it isn't uh and we just had well he's a new guy so we'll we'll give him a minute but rubenstein over

[00:27:42] and and baltimore just saying that was was uh was was eye-opening and if that's something he pushes really hard for they're gonna it's gonna be a fight because that's just a not they just don't go to the table for that it's just like a non non-starter both sides usually non-starter uh they're not gonna get rid of arb and they got to get rid of arb to get a salary cap that's just the only way it'll happen so that happens though we are having a work stoppage because that's a messy messy messy uh topic and it's gonna take a long time to figure it out if if they have a work

[00:28:11] stoppage does that count as service time for players no no uh that's one of the that's one of the leverage levers they pull when they say well none of you're gonna get it paid and none of you you're not gonna progress your your your careers and that was a big reason that last time it the the kind of blind side 26 to 4 let's go vote happened is because a lot of guys were like i just want my money i just want my time i don't really care i i mean i know this is i know there's

[00:28:39] more nuance for a lot of guys but they're most of the league most of the guys that made those votes just were thinking about themselves in their career and i i understand that but like it takes some foresight what in these situations and unfortunately that that didn't make that doesn't make me feel super hopeful for the next time it comes around that they're not going to do the same thing and just give in just because they they they want to get their one year you know get to their their bonuses or whatever and and then but like long term it's just gonna hurt

[00:29:05] their careers so i hope not but uh yeah that's definitely not something they'll get that's the first thing that comes off the table hey by the way you get you guys get nothing while this is happening so that sparks the question of let me throw this scenario at you the owners who obviously are not worried about their own money for the most part i mean they are but not to the level that the players are say implement a salary cap otherwise we are perfectly content missing the 2027

[00:29:32] season if your players and the players union what do you respond to that with okay so you think players are okay with it no i don't think players are okay with it but they need to be like that's that's what you have to be willing to do that's your ace in the hole that is in if you if anyone knows anything about uh unions and and contract negotiations in any industry that is your that is

[00:29:56] your ace because at the end of the day what you are saying to to the to the people that pay you is this thing doesn't actually work without us like you guys can't have baseball teams if there's no one playing baseball so you want to threaten us by taking away our ability game because you have a because you have a um a monopoly exemption because they do they they have a they have that with the government as well like they have all these things that make this possible for them to do and put

[00:30:24] pressure on and you say well if no one plays you good luck getting some scabs and how that works out for you long term because we've seen how it's happened in the past and did not go well uh 93 was not a fun time for anybody um so and there will be players are like you know that are in a union but anti-union those exist they exist everywhere but they exist and you have to kind of just like hold pat and say at the end of the day this is our highest leverage and we came to that point

[00:30:52] where we had to make that decision are we going to miss some games are we going to play our last card we thought we were going to a lot of us did i thought we did our team did too we voted no the other 26 teams were we're not willing to do that so um and that's when you get your thing that's when you get your stuff that's when big things shift 93 that's when the biggest shifts happened um when the game started to get missed because no matter what they say that they can hold pat

[00:31:17] forever they just made 12.1 million dollars in revenue billion dollars in revenue which is a record um and that is something they don't want to move lose out on so they're making hand over fist money hand over fist it's happening so you have to be say okay sure we won't get paid but neither will you and you guys seem to care about money a lot more than we do so yes that's just how it works

[00:31:41] that's how negotiations work we live in a time where financial insecurity is it's really scary even for people who make millions of dollars and uh i i hope it doesn't come to that but it might we've lived through it already last question for me trevor when we talk about a cap i assume that automatically means a floor is in that discussion too right yes i mean like there would be there's no world where

[00:32:06] a cap happened and they got to keep arb and no floor like there would have to be a crazy good floor i think to to not touch arb um i actually i really don't think it's even possible without touching arb you just have to touch arb um but yes the floor is also a floor is kind of the point of a cap is to kind of is that whole like creative or uh competitive balance the facade a little bit and you can't tell

[00:32:35] that story without a floor so um and there and that can be used as leverage for the teams like oakland and stuff where you say hey the floor is gonna be higher what you've been paying you've paid people the line of the last 10 years and the the the revenue sharing we that would probably be asked for we got to change that big time so these teams don't get near as much money in revenue sharing so they have to actually like participate in the cap system and uh that would have to be really strict

[00:33:02] and really impactful in order for this to even be possible but again it's comes out of control six six years of control of a player is too long to have a cap but i believe the floor would be included um and the conversation won't even the first word won't even be said unless the floor is is insinuated to be a part of it here's the last one i've got for you before we wrap this up is there any chance they could start negotiating on these things now or some point within the next year and a half two

[00:33:30] years before it gets to the point of a work stoppage or is a lockout going to be a business ploy again by the owners to try to put pressure on the players there's no incentive for the team that for the group of people that hold power if you start negotiations early there's just none because time is their best is their best uh weapon like just look at look at how they uh wield that against boris's clients at the end of the offseason every year like the the players will crack because they have

[00:33:59] to play um and the longer you wait the more likely it is that you'll have a down year and they use that they wield it like a club but it's just the way it is like that's just the part that's just part of it there's nothing you can do really about that i don't think there any that even can be addressed so um yeah the the owners wouldn't come to the table but but trust me like the the pa like these conversations are just like they're being tacked on to other conversations the whole time like like there's back channeling happen they just like have a hey what do we think about this with

[00:34:29] just so they know like what how where can we start can we get a starting point so we don't hit a brick wall immediately and so this thing doesn't turn into a big mess but and that's kind of what happened last time uh uh rob just pulled the break just out of the gate in order to put the immediately put pressure on our side just the hardest pressure ever we saw it we knew we didn't think it was going to happen like that we thought we were going to have to strike probably um we were ready to do that and for them to preemptively lock us out shows that they thought we were going to as well uh so

[00:35:00] i i don't know if lockout would happen again because i think that i think that they would like us to have to strike uh so they can then it's just additional blame you can put on players and it's and gives you more ammo so um but uh you know they've done it before why would they not do it again it worked it worked it did so uh i i would i think that something something's gonna happen or a threat's gonna happen right out the gate though i we're not this isn't gonna be like

[00:35:24] sunshine and daisies it's not well we know you're passionate about this stuff which is why we wanted to pick your brain about it and i'm sure you just gave fans some real insight into what this could all look like and the incentives behind both sides to to doing what they're doing so yeah this stuff's coming up faster than people think so i think it's time people start doing their homework on it and start learning up about it trevor you're the best as always love talking to you appreciate the time

[00:35:52] and always look forward to talking talking ball with you thanks fellas thanks for having me on appreciate it hope you guys enjoyed the conversation with trevor we certainly did and always do he is the best let's take a pause here we're going to talk to you guys about our friends over at pagach's pub 85 that's over in kirkland you guys want to have an awesome time with your friends go watch some sporting events now march madness is coming up you guys there's 20 tvs in that place so if you want a spot to go watch college basketball or events like that head over there you can play

[00:36:21] darts you can play pool with some awesome food and drink specials they're about as good as you'll get their happy hour deals you guys are three and four dollar drinks it's from two to six p.m monday through friday so long happy hours with awesome deals and an awesome time with your friends all of that is over at pagach's pub 85 in kirkland all right so what did we take away with trevor here for a minute or two as we as we recap this thing by the way we're just getting back from dc which is why tj

[00:36:49] mentioned at the start of the episode we're recording this a little early we wanted to make sure we have something out on time and as scheduled so we do but as we're just getting back here and we're recapping this episode what did you take away from our talk with trevor i kind of want to focus on all this cba stuff because that's really the interesting part we've spent the entire off season talking about the mariners so hey he was still interested he was still interesting talking about the mariners i know

[00:37:15] but like that like i know it's and i know it's a mariners podcast but i find the cba stuff very interesting and let's start off with how it relates to the mariners in the probably the only positive aspect of the cba discussion we had which is that lao and i had floated out the idea earlier we weren't sure if the owners lock the players out and they have a they have a stoppage and don't play a 2027 season

[00:37:41] does that count as a year of service time for mariners players that that would be their last year of control i'm mostly focusing on logan gilbert and cal raleigh answer to that hmm and cal raleigh and cal raleigh the answer that question is no would not count as their service time so if you could somehow spin that into a positive they would technically be under control for the mariners for another season that wouldn't make logan or cal very happy i'll tell you that much they don't want to wait another year to go

[00:38:10] to free agency as they get older and lose negotiating leverage man also crappy time for them because what it seems like as trevor talked about with a salary cap their ability to go get market value will be significantly decreased which stinks for them but man that just seems like something that's going to happen at this point there's it it really does seem like they are heading towards

[00:38:34] a salary cap in major league baseball well how about this let's hope the entire 2027 season isn't missed which is a ridiculous idea in itself thanks a lot rob manfred and the owners but if that were to happen yeah that would suck however if they figure it out and play at least half a season then these players are not affected by their service time clocks troubling uh the couple of the troubling notes of

[00:38:58] this of what trevor floated out there so you don't normally hear them talk about key issues this early at least regarding a salary cap usually owners will talk around a salary cap because they like not having a salary floor either gives them a little bit more flexibility and the owners who like spending don't have to worry about running into a cap but he was mentioning there are already owners talking

[00:39:23] about the salary cap this far out it's kind of it's kind of suspect which means that will be on the top of the owners minds when they sit down at the table to negotiate this next cba and what were the exact words he used uh for what the players are going to react when they see that non-starter

[00:39:46] that's not very positive no not at all although i think what trevor's essentially saying by saying non-starter is not all players felt like this because clearly guys voted to get back and play baseball the last time the cba negotiations ended in 2022 when the vote was 26 to 4 like trevor talked about but trevor said his team voted no and i think what trevor's insinuating that he's passionate about is

[00:40:14] look i get that it sucks and i get you don't want to lose money but you have a chance to set this sport for the right for everybody that comes after you and the rest of your playing career don't give in to these ridiculous things that these owners are asking for let's get it right for us players and make sure this thing is in place for the long haul it sounds like to me that is what trevor is saying and i understand that i understand from both sides why players don't want to lose money but also why guys

[00:40:41] may be willing to hold out to say look we're not going to give in to these owners we're not going to give in to rob manfred we need to fight for our own rights other takeaways yeah i mean that's the that's the big one that's we're just waiting yeah and it's going to be a lot of waiting which i don't like i don't like the fact that when we when we threw out the idea of can't they just start negotiating now he's like oh there's no chance that's gonna happen yeah why give up leverage

[00:41:10] which that's not that's not a great that's not a great sign either no if you want one mariners takeaway he the same way i have been the same way you've been he he seems to be fairly high and confident on jorge polanco which is good he said i look i think i think he really was banged up last year and trevor said look i think there's a real world he can bounce back hit a lot better and and he said it too he's like look polo knows he didn't have a great year and he's

[00:41:38] motivated and he wants and and he's driven to bounce back and really get back to his old self which that'd be great and trevor and polo were teammates they know each other well like they played together and i think trevor's right that like there's very very much reason to buy into a jorge polanco bounce back so let's hope he's right and let's hope we're right and that lines right up with your mailbag question answer uh last friday which which mariner would be the most impactful or

[00:42:05] the one that you would predict to bounce back you said polo so so did trevor may the you know most of the question surrounds that is if he's able to handle third base right i'd say the over the overarching theme of trevor is despite all the disappointment the offseason we all understand that this is a very a talented baseball team now i just got to go out and win and much like polo some of the rest of the guys on this roster can't have bad years again bad years happen

[00:42:35] is it uh can you avoid having multiple bad years going forward into this upcoming season that's gonna be big no doubt all right that just about wraps up this edition of the marine layer podcast a reminder we didn't say it at the start of the show so we're gonna say it now we're gonna keep hammering home this announcement thursday february 20th moss bay hall in kirkland 6 p.m mark your calendars guys it's our first ever live show and we cannot wait for it we're fired up for it we've got

[00:43:04] trivia plan we've got q a plan we might have a guest there's gonna be awesome food the smash burgers at moss bay hall so good that alone should be enough of a reason to get into the door and then you can also listen to us and talk to us as well and it's free to get in february 20th 6 p.m moss bay hall in kirkland come check it out it's really gonna be a blast additionally you want to listen to the full form podcast you can do so wherever you get your audio pods make sure to download make sure to rate

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