Episode 209: Predicting Breakout Candidates For Mariners Spring Training

[00:00:00] Welcome to episode number 209 of the Marine Layer Podcast. The Mariners announced their new look 2025 broadcast team. We'll talk about all the differences and we'll also pick out a breakout Mariner as we enter spring training. Here's your guys reminder, make sure you're downloading these podcast episodes. If you're listening, if you're on that audio side, take a second, just rate and review, leave it five stars. We're still trying to get all those Apple reviews up. So keep doing that. If you're on YouTube, please hit that subscribe button. You guys see it. It's right in front of you.

[00:00:29] Just takes a second to do. It's the best way you can support the channel. Make sure to like, drop a comment, and follow us all across social media at Marine Layer Pod. Let's get it rolling.

[00:00:51] And we welcome you to this episode of the Marine Layer Podcast, part of the Just Baseball Podcast Network, recording on Thursday evening, February 13th. The Mariners reported to spring training this week. Oh, so, so happy. I have one takeaway already. It has nothing to do with baseball. Did you see the big letters are back on the jerseys? Yeah, thank God. Our long national nightmare is over.

[00:01:22] That might have been one of the few things in this entire country where the opinions on that were 100% to 0%. And was there one single person out there that was like, you know what? I like the small letters. This is better. I don't miss the old jerseys at all. No, I don't think you could pull one person that said in with the new jerseys from last year. You know how we talk about Coachella jerseys? Mm-hmm.

[00:01:48] All those small letter jerseys are now officially Coachella jerseys because they're antiques. They're a one and done. For those who don't know, why don't you explain your definition of Coachella jerseys? So I assume everyone knows what Coachella is, but if people are unfamiliar with Coachella, it's a music festival in Indio, California during the spring. Mm-hmm. It's during the spring, right? Mm-hmm. I'm not that washed. Okay, thank you. Glad I'm not dating myself here.

[00:02:17] So people like to dress up there. Guys, it's a variety of what they dress, but a lot of people will wear jerseys there. And I think the best kind of jersey to wear, it's not like your most popular jersey, not something you'd wear out to a sports bar or to, if you're going to the Eagles victory parade today on Friday for some reason, you're an Eagles fan and an Ems fan listening to us, shout out to you. That would be amazing. But no, these are like the very niche jerseys.

[00:02:46] Like, these are a player that you had no idea that he played for that team. It's got to be a combination of very rare player with a very rare type of jersey. This is easier to do in the NBA that has more jerseys, baseball less so. But think of like a Mariners Coachella jersey. Tuffy Goswitch is a Coachella jersey. Nobody owns that jersey. James Jones.

[00:03:15] What about that Tommy LaStella jersey you saw? Oh, that's a Coachella jersey. For those who missed it last year, there was legitimately somebody on opening weekend wearing a City Connect Tommy LaStella jersey. And I asked this guy, why do you own this? And he's like, oh, it's my friend's. It's not mine. He just lent it to me for the day. And I said, why does he own it? And he goes, I don't know.

[00:03:38] For reference, Tommy LaStella got cut the day before the first time the Mariners wore their City Connect jerseys. It's not like those jerseys are any cheaper. It's not like because you get Tommy LaStella over Julio, it's cheaper. No, it's all the same price. I don't know. I don't know. So who's the most Coachella worthy Mariner? There's a bunch. Doug Pfister. Did people have his jersey back then? What about Edwin Encarnacion?

[00:04:08] Oh, that's one. Carlos Pagaro? That's one. Yeah, James Jones is a good one. Michael Saunders? Shout out Michael Saunders back in the org. Yeah. You know what? If we're just... Wait, no, I have one. Because he's now retired, we have to shout him out. Daniel Vogelbach. Oh, that's a good one. That is a good one. You know what? Now that he's a friend of ours, I'll just throw his out there too. Charlie Furbush jersey.

[00:04:37] And Charlie would probably agree. If he saw somebody wearing his jersey out at Coachella, he'd be like, yeah, that's warranted. Tom, so we're in that bucket. Tom Wilhelmsen qualifies. Man, there's a lot of good options. Really good options. Woo! This is not something you can do with the Yankees. They have too many good players who stay on the team for too long. We need more variety. Yeah. The Mariners, I feel like, are perfect for that. They are.

[00:05:06] You know what my quick takeaway is that's pretty much non-baseball before we really get into things? They made some upgrades to the Peoria Sports Complex. So, there's a little less pavement area on the patio, which is basically the area that TJ and I will stand and hang out and kind of just wait around for players to hopefully swing by. It's where more... Anyway, in all seriousness, that's where most of the media hangs out during spring training when they're not on the field. It's now more turf.

[00:05:35] They put in some more area for infield work next to the bullpen area. So, they made some upgrades. And it seems like now there's a little bit more of an area for position players in addition to where the pitchers will throw their bullpens. So, yeah, the Mariners made some pretty cool upgrades to it, it looks like. So, I'm excited to go see it. Was it the camera angle that made it look like Kirby was throwing a bullpen somewhere else? No, it was the same spot.

[00:05:57] Again, the reason you didn't recognize it is because where Divish was standing recording those videos, instead of being basically adjacent to the mound where he often will stand, this time he's at a different angle. And I think that's because of the new turf they put in. So, now he has to stand somewhere else. Interesting. Interesting. I'm excited to see it when we get down there. I'm excited to get some sunshine. It snowed today. Great. Yeah. February is one busy month for us in a good way. And what does that involve?

[00:06:26] Well, one of those things is being down at spring training, which we will be there from February 24th through March 1st, so the last week of February. So, if you are going to be there anywhere in that time span, like we keep saying, please, please flag us down. Let us know. Love to meet up. Oh. Yeah. You know what? In addition to that, if we're just talking about the busy month of February, let's just talk about a couple other things here. Well, we just got back from D.C., so fun trip with our friends. That's now concluded. Again, we're going down to spring training.

[00:06:56] Quick turnaround here in about 10 days. In between that time, we've got our first live show coming up. Man, we cannot meet. Woo! Woo! Woo! One week away from time of recording this. One week away. When you guys listen, it'll be six days away. Thursday, February 20th, 6 p.m., Moss Bay Hall in Kirkland. I cannot, cannot wait. Guys, it's going to be a blast. We've already gotten a bunch of feedback from people saying, this sounds awesome. I can't wait to make it out.

[00:07:25] So we hope all you guys are in that same boat because it's not just going to be some show where TJ and I stand up there and talk. No. We want to get all you guys involved. We want your questions. In fact, I'm giving a homework assignment to everybody that comes to the show. Come prepared with a question to ask us because we want to hear from you. Whatever's on your mind, whether it's Mariners, whether it's whatever you want to talk about. We're going to answer it. We're also going to be doing trivia with prizes to give away.

[00:07:50] If that's another incentive for you to go, there's another way to get in the door and be motivated to come hang out with us is trivia with prizes. And if you need a third kicker, it's free to get in. No charge. Free to get in. Free to come hang out. So next Thursday, February 20th at 6 p.m. We can't wait. Sounds pretty fun. The food's good, too. And the drinks. Oh, food is great. So you have no reason. You have legitimately zero reason to skip. Yeah. The Smashburger at Moss Bay is unreal.

[00:08:20] It's really good. The pretzels. Oh, we had the beignets last week. Those are pretty good, too. If you like fried dough. Yeah. So please come through. Mm hmm. One last reminder before we jump into the main topic of today's show. We did start a Patreon. So if you want to listen to us and you want to support Lyle and us, Lyle and myself, you can go sign up for our Patreon. There's a free version. There's a paid version.

[00:08:45] I know some of you like to listen to stuff ad free and are willing to try and find a way to go do that. Well, now you have an option here with this podcast where we're going to make all of our stuff over on our Patreon ad free. So if you like listening to us but don't want to listen to any ads, you can go support us directly and go over to the Patreon. And it's only five bucks a month. We're looking to add more. We're hoping to as this season goes along, we're going to add some more features on top

[00:09:14] of that, some live chats, some more exclusive things that happen over there on the Patreon, which will give you a reason to come sign up and hang out with us. And I will, again, just note it changes absolutely nothing with what we currently do. Every single bit of content that we currently put out for free will continue as planned. There will be zero changes in that aspect and we look forward to ramping everything up as the season goes along.

[00:09:39] So if you're interested in supporting us, listening to the podcast ad free and a whole lot more fun features in the future, go check out our Patreon, Marine Layer Pod. A lot of fun. Really fun. And guys, just give us a little bit of time. We are going to be adding more features to that Patreon. More ways for you guys and us to all interact and talk ball. So just give us a little bit of time and we're going to add more. Up first on the topic wheel today, Lyle, while we were on vacation, the Mariners finally,

[00:10:08] well, actually, let me clarify this. Let me clarify. Mariners didn't announce anything yet, but it was reported by Adam Jude of what the changes in the Mariners broadcast booth will be for this upcoming season. And as a couple of broadcasters, the two of us, this is right up our alley. Let's roll through it. So the details are Dave Sims, of course, takes the job with the Yankees. He's out. Mike Flowers will not be returning to the Mariners broadcast team for the 2025 season.

[00:10:37] Very interesting. Aaron Goldsmith goes to lead TV play by play. Gary Hill gets elevated into Goldie's role on the radio. He's tabbed as the quote unquote radio analyst, but I'd imagine Gary's going to be getting innings every night now alongside Rick Riz. And then the Mariners are now going to rotate four color analysts alongside Aaron Goldsmith. Angie Mentank, Jay Buhner, Dave Valley, and Ryan Roland-Smith.

[00:11:07] Where should we start with this? Let's just start here. Super cool for everybody involved in this broadcast package. Aaron Goldsmith was 29 years old when he came to Seattle. He talked about he felt like he had a ton to learn, a lot of experience he still needed to gain. Fast forward just over a decade later. Now he's the TV voice of the Mariners full time. Sick. That's awesome for Goldie. And you don't need us to tell you that he is one of the best in baseball.

[00:11:34] So to see him be on TV full time now, one, awesome for Dave. Like we talked about that Dave Sims is going to be the radio voice of the Yankees, which we know is a dream job. But now that Goldie gets to take over on TV full time, also awesome. Congrats to Goldie. That's absolutely amazing. I'm so, I'm going to miss the chemistry that he and Blowers had a lot. They ended up getting, for the time they worked together, their chemistry was pretty unrivaled.

[00:12:04] Mike Blowers and Dave Sims had been spent a ton of time in the booth together and had some amazing moments. But the chemistry that Goldie and Blowers had when they would share the TV booth, I thought was unrivaled. In fact, the only thing that would really come close to it is when Goldie and Gary would call a game on the radio. Like that, it's that level of chemistry, I think, which makes these broadcasts that much better. And I'm not saying it can't be replaced by the four color analysts I mentioned that we

[00:12:33] will dive into here in a second. But that group, that pairing of Blowers and Goldie, I thought really was the best that the Mariners could put out there in the television booth. And it's just very disappointing that Blowers is not going to be in that booth for this upcoming season. For people who are going to inevitably in the comments ask us why Blowers is not back in the booth, I don't know. It wasn't reported. And I don't think there'll be a reason. The only way we'd get a reason is if Blowers would say it.

[00:13:03] But he's a pretty private person, so I don't think he would say it. So, if you want to speculate, go ahead. But we don't have a reason. Right. If you want to speculate, look, obviously he missed a lot of time during the 2023 season. We know he was battling with some health stuff. We know toward the tail end of 2024, if you remember, he wasn't on a lot of those broadcasts either. So, maybe it's something along those lines. But again, that is pure, pure speculation from the two of us. We don't know.

[00:13:31] Like TJ said, unless it gets reported, I don't think we'll ever find out. But what that does is it gets to elevate some other people who are awesome into some really cool roles. I will say, on the Goldian-Gary platform, I hope those two still find a way to be together on whether it's radio broadcasts or whatever it may be. Because I don't want their chemistry to totally go away where they're no longer talking together anymore. Not that they're not talking off the air.

[00:14:01] Those guys are basically best friends. But on the air, I hope they still find a way to integrate the two together. I'm dead serious when I say, as much as I love Rick Riz, he's a legend. He's a Mariners Hall of Famer. He should be in the Baseball Hall of Fame. I mean, the dude will go down on the Mount Rushmore of Seattle broadcasters of all time, right up there next to Dave Niehaus. That's the kind of impact he's made on this city and with the franchise.

[00:14:26] And the overwhelming positivity for this franchise, even when they probably deserve none, you know who's going to be the Mr. Positive about the Seattle Mariners? It's Rick Riz. And that's just, that's because that's who he is. He's Mr. Positive. And it's fantastic. But the best product that the Mariners put out on the radio, I thought, from a listener perspective, is when Goldie and Gary would do it.

[00:14:51] They could play off each other so well that there's all these little references that you can make throughout a broadcast that instantly gets picked up on. There's no lag time. There's no miss. There's no nothing. It's the storytelling. It's the weaving in both old school and new school. It's just a whole combination of things that made it fantastic. I hope we'll get that eventually sometime.

[00:15:19] I feel like there's still an opportunity for that, but we'll see. I mean, to be fair, Blowers would do some pregame and postgame stuff on the radio while also calling the game on TV. So maybe there will be times throughout the week where Goldie and Gary hop on the radio together postgame or pregame, and they get to talk in that regard. But yeah, I'm sure the Mariners know that, one, Goldie and Gary are a great combo. And I'm sure that they know that fans know that those two are a great combo. So yes, hopefully they find a way to get those two integrated.

[00:15:47] I wouldn't rule that out at all. In fact, I would say that's more than likely that they're going to get an opportunity to do that because you know what? They wasn't reported in all this, which I thought was very interesting. And I will keep an eye out for when the Mariners officially announce it. There was nothing talked about with pregame or postgame shows. And now remember the news this offseason that Major League Baseball is taking on the production of Root Sports. And that does change the product they put out there.

[00:16:16] What would they decide to do with the pregame and postgame show with our friend Brad Adam? What happens with that? We don't know. I guess we're going to have to see. Well, it was reported that Brad's still going to be involved in a variety of ways. Which is good. Yeah. So he will still have some involvement. Again, when the Mariners announce it all, we'll probably have a little bit more clarity on what exactly each role is. But yes, the fact Brad's still going to be involved is great.

[00:16:42] But if it's a shorter pregame and postgame show, for example, on TV this year, then yes, that does give Goldie more of a chance to hop over on the radio before and after the game and hang out with Rick and Gary. I want to give a shout out to Angie Menting. Congratulations. What an awesome opportunity for her to become. It's the official title is the first woman to hold a primary analyst role in Seattle sports,

[00:17:11] if I believe I have that right. Yeah. I mean, her and Hyphen are going to be the main two, right? Yeah. I guess we don't know yet who's doing the bulk of the games on the analyst side, but Angie is absolutely going to be doing a bunch of them. I think that's clear. Oh, and it's yeah. And it's it could be a split. It could be a split. Yeah. Could be a split. Regardless, it's it's awesome for her. Yeah. Like if you ever talk to Angie, she knows so much baseball and has such a wide knowledge

[00:17:39] of the game that yeah, now now she gets to bring that to the airwaves every night. Pretty cool. Really cool. And then Hyphen. I mean, Hyphen was one of the best in the game. I really do enjoy listening to Ryan Roland Smith. I did raise an eyebrow a little bit that Jay Buhner is going to be back and back rotating it because he as far as I know and as far as he told when he came back last year, they had the Buhner buzz cut night. He does not live here.

[00:18:05] Makes it a little little bit more difficult to rotate in when you don't you don't live here. And it's not like lives in Oregon. No, he lives in Texas. Right. Like, for example, when when Kayla was on the broadcast in 23, Kayla bro, who was also awesome and loved listening to her when she was on before she took the coaching job back at her alma mater at Alabama for softball. She would live in Oregon. She lived in Oregon before they moved and she would just fly up for some series from time to time because it's it's shorter. Sometimes she drive.

[00:18:34] But yeah, Jay Buhner is not living in Oregon. He's living in Texas. So if I had to guess what this means, I would guess they might have him do some of the series when the Mariners travel to Texas because it'll be a little bit closer for him. And then maybe he also flies up for a handful of series throughout the year. I'm sure he's not going to relocate if I had to guess, but I would guess they'll mix him in in that way. I'm sure he's not going to be doing the primary number of games as the TV analyst, but they will probably work him in in facets like that.

[00:19:04] So you could say you fly him up for a week, two series at home and then four series in Texas because that's what they'll play. Yeah. And that's roughly 15 to 20 games. That's a reasonable amount of games throughout the year. They'll play a series in Arizona this year too, right? Yeah. So that's another. Yeah. That's another. Not too far away. Right. They'll find a way to work him in. And then Dave Valley, as far as I know, still lives in the area, right? Yeah.

[00:19:31] Remember during the Rangers series last year, he was doing Rangers TV. But in Seattle. Yeah. Right. In Seattle. Mm-hmm. So he'll probably get worked in in a variety of ways too. But he hasn't been on Root in a while. Has it been a while? It feels like it's been a while. All right. So now they're going to start to work him back in. But I would assume Hyphen and Angie are going to be the majority, get the majority of the

[00:19:59] reps and games as the TV analyst, which again, awesome for both of them. Hyphen has been such a supporter of ours and now a friend of ours throughout starting this podcast. So couldn't be more thrilled for him. Somebody who is super passionate about one baseball, but two broadcasting and has certainly made an awesome career for himself post-playing where now he's on MLB Network. He does his own podcast. Now he's going to be one of the main TV analysts for the Mariners. It's awesome for him.

[00:20:24] And then for Angie, who again, is as knowledgeable about the game as almost anybody in the Mariners media that you'll find. She, again, if you ever talk to Angie about baseball, it doesn't take you long to realize yeah, she really, really knows her stuff. And to see her get this chance and to see her get a bunch more games, awesome for her. Another person who's been super supportive of the both of us. So happy for her. And we're hoping to get her on. Yeah. Hopefully soon. That would be great.

[00:20:51] Like, like love to have her on if she's ever available and willing to do it. Shall we get to our breakout Mariners? Yeah. Is there anything else to kind of tie a bow on with this whole broadcast thing or do we hit it? Do we hit the nail on the head again? Like the big thing I'm coming to the conclusion here is legitimately just thrilled for everybody involved because everybody involved, not only are they great broadcasters, but they're just, they're just awesome people who deserve the opportunities. So I'm excited to see what the new age of Mariners broadcasting looks like.

[00:21:21] I'm glad to see all these announcements, but what I've been most curious about all, how off all off season, if I can get my word straight is what, what are the broadcasts going to look like? How much changes with major league baseball taking over? How much time are they shaving off the broadcasts? And then where does it go after this season? We speculated last year that last year could have been the last year of root. Not, not this upcoming season.

[00:21:45] And they haven't said whether or not root would continue beyond this year or not, but we know it, it's, it's heading in the direction of them going under major league baseball's umbrella. So how does that look a year from now too? And that's sort of the information I look at with this, but at least for this year, that's what, this is what we're looking at. And I'm just, I'm thrilled for everybody involved and what we're going to get to, to listen to, uh, listen to in the booth. And hopefully there'll be some good baseball to talk about.

[00:22:15] Definitely. Definitely. Yeah. We may not know what the future of the TV broadcasts look like till one, we get to see some games once they start this year. I don't know if we'll have a full idea in spring training or not. And two, once time goes on, it may be one of those things we just learn with time. What would help is if some of these guys that we're going to talk about next play like we're going to predict them to play going through spring training and into opening day? Yeah.

[00:22:42] And before we do that, because I cannot wait to talk about a bunch of these guys, there was a lot of really exciting names to keep an eye out on and look for in spring training this year, because there are some prospects that are really going to turn some heads. Before that, take a quick pause. Talk to you guys about our friends over at Pagatch's Pub 85. That's over in Kirkland. If you want a spot to go hang out with your friends, an awesome spot. You want to go watch some games with college basketball in full swing. You want to go play some pool or some darts. You want to have some awesome food. It's all over there.

[00:23:11] And if you want great drink specials, the happy hour over there is awesome. Drinks are three and four bucks. It's from two to 6 p.m. on Monday through Fridays. Those are awesome happy hour deals. You guys go over and take advantage of it. All of that is over at Pagatch's Pub 85 in Kirkland. I'm going to start with you, Lyle. Who are your breakout? Let me frame it this way. Who is your breakout Mariner this spring? There's two ways that I'm going to go about this.

[00:23:40] I'm going to give one honorable mention and then give my main guy. And you have some honorable mentions too, right? I have two actually. So let's start with the honorable mentions and then we'll move into our highlight guy. Honorable mention, I went with Gregory Santos. Because is Gregory Santos breaking out? Well, he'd break out with the Mariners if he breaks out. But he's not a breakout candidate because he was acquired to Seattle to be a high leverage arm.

[00:24:09] We just didn't get to see it last year because he missed most of the year with injury. But this is a guy that if he breaks out with the Mariners this year, if he stays healthy and pitches the way he pitched in Chicago, makes a full 180 difference to this bullpen. This bullpen does not have all the problems it has last year if Gregory Santos is just healthy. Even with Matt Brash missing the year. If Santos was just healthy all year, this bullpen looks vastly different.

[00:24:35] A guy that has just dynamite stuff, bowling ball type sinker, runs it up to the upper 90s. And this guy's slider, again, it's easy to forget because he barely threw last year. His slider was one of the best pitches, pitches, in Major League Baseball back in 2023. That is a huge reason the Mariners acquired the guy. Dynamite slider and is still, honestly, an unfinished product.

[00:25:00] For as good as he was in 2023, he only really had one dominant pitch with the idea that, yeah, this guy's just getting started. He's got all this club control. He's young. He's got this crazy stuff. We get him into our pitching lab, into Seattle. Oh, this guy's going to be a difference maker for us for a long time. And if he stays healthy this year, I think he is going to be that. Santos is the rare established big leaguer that you could throw in still needs to break out.

[00:25:29] Personally, as you mentioned, because he changed teams. And it doesn't matter. At this point, it doesn't matter as much what he did in Chicago. Like, it showed what kind of pitcher he could be. But the Mariners are a different organization than Chicago. They're going to have different ideas of what they want him to throw and how they want him to attack. But he's also going to show the Mariners that, you know, I can stay healthy for an entire season. Because that's what really matters the most here.

[00:25:55] Is that he shows up to Seattle last year, struggles with injury, and barely pitches at all. It's going to be something that people are very happy about. If he can come out this spring training and he can do exactly what he did. You and I were talking about this before we started recording. It's like, does he count? I mean, he's got a full season under his belt.

[00:26:19] I do think relievers are different than every other position when it comes to, is this, can we call this a breakout player or not? Because relievers are so up and down that if you're on like a down stretch, trying to find some words here. If relievers are on a down stretch and then suddenly break out again, I feel like something like that counts.

[00:26:46] You could say the same thing like Neftali Feliz, Lyle. If he comes out and dominates this spring and starts throwing 99 again, you would call that a breakout. I'm sorry. Are you under the impression Neftali Feliz is going to be throwing 99 miles an hour? I'm just saying if. We love hypotheticals. We do. However, you know what's not a hypothetical? This guy's thrown five big league innings in the last seven years. Or Shintaro Fujinami shows up and he doesn't walk a guy all spring. That.

[00:27:16] That would be a breakout. That's a real breakout. But he's been in the big leagues for multiple seasons now. Yeah. Fujinami is a much more realistic idea of a bullpen breakout than Neftali Feliz. What are you going to say when Neftali Feliz is in a game in April? I'm going to say, is this 2011? I hope not. Fujinami actually could break out.

[00:27:42] But if we're sticking on Santos here, again, if you just want to run through the guy's numbers, because it's easy to forget what he did just one baseball season ago in 2023. He made just shy of 70 appearances. ERA was 339. FIP was 265. And again, that slider was one of the best pitches in Major League Baseball back in 23. Opponents against his slider slugged 203. They did not bat 203.

[00:28:12] They slugged 203. Are the Mariners a different organization than the White Sox? Yes. Will they have slightly different ideas for him? Yes. But I cannot imagine Pete Woodworth and Trent Blank are looking at Gregory Santos and saying, yeah, that slider of yours? Stop throwing it. You're going to see that slider plenty if he's healthy. And if he is healthy, I think he is going to dominate with it. Let's reframe the question. What does a Gregory Santos spring training breakout look like?

[00:28:39] Well, relievers never usually get more than five, maybe six appearances all spring. So it's about five to six innings. But if in those few innings, he's throwing strikes, slider looks good, fastballs up, and he's spotting up his pitches, and he stays healthy, that's a breakout. If Gregory Santos in six appearances gives up one run, isn't walking guys, and looks like 2023 Gregory Santos or some form of it, I would call that a breakout.

[00:29:09] By up, you mean velocity. Velocity up, yes. If he is throwing in the mid to upper 90s, and usually he's in the upper 90s. So yeah. That would be a good start. I think 93 would be concerning. What I think the Mariners would be looking for, I feel like they just want to see the velo and the stuff. I don't know if the results matter as much. That's why when we talk... But results would get fans excited. It might not matter to the Mariners, but if Santos throws six scoreless innings in spring training,

[00:29:37] and it's throwing 96 to 97, fans are going to be like, oh, he's back. He's back. Okay, that's a fair point. I'm sort of thinking along the lines of Gregory Santos is so talented, and they gave up something, at least to acquire him, and he's at least shown for a full season he can be a dominant big league relief arm, that even if he gave up three runs in six innings, you just kind of shrug your shoulders at that, because they're looking for a tune-up. They're not looking for close out a spring training win.

[00:30:06] I'm going to remember a couple conversations we had with guys at spring training last year who were the year prior on the roster bubble and had to worry about performing and not giving up runs in spring training, but then the year after, there was so much less of a worry of going out there and just working on yourself, essentially, and not worrying too much about the results. More looking at, am I throwing the right pitch in the right count? Is my velocity good, etc.?

[00:30:34] I feel like that's what Gregory Santos wants to see, and I think that's what the Mariners themselves would qualify as a breakout. Yeah, fair. No doubt. If they see the stuff that they want to see from Gregory Santos, that's what's most important. We had one of those conversations with Gabe last spring, Gabe Speyer. That's who I was referencing. Oh, okay, yeah. He had an outing where, yeah, it wasn't his best outing, but again, it's spring training. It's not always about the results. And we asked him, like, how did it feel yesterday? It's like, dude, honestly, it felt awesome.

[00:31:03] I know it wasn't my best outing, but everything I wanted to work on and get done in that outing, I did. And then he went out and had an awesome April, if you remember. He was one of baseball's best relievers in the month of April. So yeah, spring training results don't always matter. Logan Gilbert said something similar, I remember. He had a start that wasn't his best in spring training. It's not uncommon at all for guys who are just getting warmed up. And similar thing. He said, yeah, like, I felt good. I did what I wanted to do in that outing. It's just the results weren't perfect, but this is what spring training's for.

[00:31:31] And I remember asking Gabe, if this was last year, would you be freaking out right now? And he's like, yeah. But since he was so great in 23, he didn't have to. Right. He had already earned his roster spot. Right. And by the way, he's a guy the Mariners are banking on again in 25 to bounce back. And I've talked about that plenty. If he's healthy, I think he will. And that's a guy they really need. Do we qualify that as a, like, that's not a breakout, but that would be, I mean, that would be enough to borderline land on this honorable mention list.

[00:32:01] If we see our guy like Gabe go out there and have seven dominant outings. Oh, yeah. That's more of a bounce back because. Right. Well, you know what, though? Then he's in the same bucket as Gregory Santos. Just on. It's just Santos was on a different team. Great year in 23. Down year in 24. Bounces back in 25. Yeah, it's probably the same bucket. And for Gabe, he hadn't had him and Santos at that point.

[00:32:25] It each would have had one full dominant big league season and then scattering. Right. Right. Yeah. Similar bucket. I think Santos, there's a little bit more of an intrigue and a little bit more of an unknown because, again, people haven't seen him dominate in a Mariner uniform yet. But that is a long honorable mention. What's that? And he's a little younger. A little younger. That was a long honorable mention, but an honorable mention regardless because he's going to be really important.

[00:32:52] I don't think anyone is going to be surprised when I say I want to see Ryan Bliss break out this spring training as he's my first honorable mention. The second base position is going to be a common theme from what I choose. And I'm going to start with the guy as an honorable mention who saw some time in the big leagues last year and had some success. Therefore, can it be a total breakout for Ryan Bliss?

[00:33:17] Well, I think the guy I did choose at second base hasn't played a big league game yet. Therefore, he gets to earn the honorable mention instead. But I still want to see a lot from Ryan Bliss. And I think the Mariners would be so excited to see what Ryan Bliss could do in spring training. Hitters are a little bit different than pitchers when it comes to spring training.

[00:33:43] Pitchers have, as we've talked about, specific things they want to work on in spring training. And hitters do too. But hitters want to see results in spring. Will they ultimately matter when the season rolls around? Maybe. Maybe not. Like, remember the 2015 spring with Mike Zanino and Chris Bryant going at it for the Cactus League home run title? Mm-hmm. Yep. Zanino got sent down that year, I believe, right? He did. Yeah.

[00:34:11] See, so it just doesn't matter all that much, the results. Because you can never tell. But I'm sure Ryan Bliss would love to see some results. Because, guess what, I'm thinking that second base position is for the most part his for the first two months of the season. And going forward, if Bliss is hitting, the second base position may be Bliss and the guy you're going to highlight here in a couple minutes. Because that would be essentially a platoon role over at the position.

[00:34:39] And then you move Dylan Moore back to being a utility player where he's best suited anyway. If you look at the broad stroke of Bliss' 2024 season, you see he was about a league average hitter. He was worth about half a win in a handful of games. He struck out 31% of the time. He struggled with velocity. He swung and missed a lot. Which is expected from a young player making his major league debut. But then you look at some of the other numbers with Ryan Bliss and what he offered up last year.

[00:35:08] A 21% chase rate, which is borderline elite. You look at his hard hit rate of 46.5%. That's pretty good. But you look at his launch angle sweet spot percentage, which is the percent of time you are getting it between 8 degrees and 32 degrees. Which is the ideal place to hit a baseball if you're looking for damage. Ryan Bliss did that as well. You look at those numbers specifically and you think,

[00:35:35] there's a lot of encouragement there for a guy to have some real success at the big league level this year. He's not going to be Robinson Cano at the plate. But at least you know he does do things well. And for a player of his size, he's got some pop in that bat. Which I think people are going to be really excited to see. And the Mariners are going to, if they're going to be successful this season, have to see success from him.

[00:35:57] There are reasons why he's going to have to play, even after my breakout candidate gets up to the big leagues this year and plays, that Ryan Bliss is going to have to continue playing and playing well at second base. That is, unless you want Demo Lyle to play more second base, I would rather see Ryan Bliss. Yeah, again, I say it all the time. I know I'm a Demo guy, but he is best suited in a utility role to move around wherever he's needed. Not to be playing one position all the time.

[00:36:27] And yeah, Bliss is younger. He's got a little more upside at this point. Plus, with everything he has the potential to do with the bat, he's a good defender too. Something the Mariners don't usually get at second base. Now, he doesn't have the strongest arm in the world, that's for sure. But in terms of his range and his defense with the glove, he's a good defender. And that matters. And runs really well, which the Mariners need a lot of. Right. Right. So there's a lot of reasons to think Ryan Bliss can be successful this spring.

[00:36:55] And in his case, a successful spring I think will help a lot when he makes the Mariners roster in April. It's cold and he needs some confidence at the plate to get himself going offensively. Yeah. Let me get to my... Do you have one more thing? Oh, and just look, I know there was plenty of talk all offseason about the second base spot. Plenty of it by us. But this is... This stands, by the way. All that stands. It stands. But you know what also stands is I would love, love, love to see Ryan Bliss break out.

[00:37:23] Because as we've talked about plenty, another one of these guys who is incredibly easy to root for might be... We've said this about a bunch of guys, but he's in this conversation. Might be the nicest guy in the whole org. 100%. Yeah. My next honorable mention, Hunter Cranton. Mm-hmm. That's a good one. Hunter Cranton, for those who don't know, was drafted last year. Third round last year as a reliever. Now, some of you might say Mariners drafted a reliever in the third round.

[00:37:52] Well, they used so much money on the first two picks, and rightfully so, because both the picks look awesome so far with Durangelo, Sanja, and then over-slotting Ryan Sloan in the second round. The rest of that draft was used on a lot of guys you were able to give a little less money to. And when you draft a reliever in the third round, he's probably not signing for slot value. It's probably going to be less than that. Hence, throw in Hunter Cranton, who you get for under-slot.

[00:38:18] And fast forward to now, he could be this year's Troy Taylor, where he's up in the big leagues by the end of this year. And that's what the Mariners had in mind. They thought last year that he could have—there was like this long-shot outside chance he makes the big leagues when they drafted him last year. Because they drafted him, he's 24 already. As a college senior, he's 24. By the way, older than Troy Taylor. He is a full year older than Troy Taylor is.

[00:38:46] But if you remember the Troy Taylor arc of last season, he started the year in 2024 in Everett. Then went to Arkansas. Then went to the big leagues. Hunter Cranton is going to start the year, I think, in Everett, right? It's going to—Everett or Arkansas. It could be either. Because he's going to be 25 this year, and he's only a reliever. So there's no—let me frame this correctly. There's not much development left.

[00:39:15] It's just, is he good enough to get big leaguers out or not? If he has a good spring, would you be shocked at all to see him just start in Arkansas? No, I wouldn't be. Me either. It's going to be one of those two. Troy had—Troy was good in 2023, but he wasn't 2024 level good. Therefore—and he was younger. So more of a reason to put him in Everett. Cranton, though, again, he's going to be 25 this year.

[00:39:42] Once you're 25 and you're already just a reliever, it's sink or swim. And they're going to—that's why they're going to put him in Arkansas. If they put him in Arkansas and he struggles a lot, then they'll know what they have. But this dude throws 99, topping out at 100 with his fastball. And then it's a slider with a 51% whiff rate. Yeah, I'd say that's pretty good. I'd say that's someone who could really help out the Mariners' bullpen.

[00:40:08] A bullpen that we have noted over and over and over again has a big question mark over its head going into this season. Mm-hmm. That right there is the bread and butter of a dominant bullpen arm, especially in Seattle. Right-hander, hard fastball, slider that gets a bunch of swing and miss. That is a Mariners reliever. What do they love? Right-handers with good fastballs and good sliders. That's Hunter Cranston. And he's going to be—I would imagine he's going to be in camp among the longest of any of these guys.

[00:40:38] Oh, yeah. Which very much helps. Definitely. Are we ready for the highlighted headline breakout stars? Let's do it. My pick for this. Our guy, Brandon Garcia. If you do not know the name yet, Brandon Garcia won Mariners Minor League Pitcher of the Year last year. He was a starter, 11th round pick. He was drafted out of Texas A&M, started at Quinnipiac. But he comes into last year. Essentially an unknown.

[00:41:08] He goes out and between Everett and Arkansas puts up a .225 ERA for the year. As a starter for the most part. But the Mariners have him as a reliever heading into spring, at least for this year. They plan to throw Garcia out of the bullpen and see what he's got. And honestly, while Cranston may take some more time, Brandon Garcia is a guy that, while it may be a bit of a long shot, could legitimately crack this roster out of spring training as a reliever.

[00:41:37] If he goes out and he dominates in spring training and he overpowers hitters, the Mariners may say, we've seen what we need to see from you as a reliever. You're going to Seattle. And if Brandon Garcia pitches out of the bullpen for the Mariners this year with this idea that he could be this dominant left-handed arm, who, by the way, could absolutely be stretched out as a multi-inning guy, given his background as a starter. He breaks out. You keep talking about this bullpen that needs reinforcements.

[00:42:08] You get a left-hander back there that's as tall and lanky as Brandon Garcia with a fastball that runs from the mid to upper 90s with three secondaries. That's a big arsenal for a relief pitcher. And if he does all that and it all clicks, the upside for this is I'm not going to say Andrew Miller, but it's that idea, right? I'm not going to put that type of lofty comp on BG just as a guy that is trying to make the club out of camp.

[00:42:33] But it is that idea of a multi-inning left-handed reliever with big stuff that gets a bunch of outs. And that would be massively valuable. The versatility here is what makes this so exciting. I think back to last year, the idea the Mariners had for Logan Evans, our guy Logan Evans, who, again, we're going to hope to have him on the pod here soon. Been communicating, hopefully before the season starts. But remember, Logan, they tried moving him to reliever last year during the season.

[00:43:02] Didn't like what they saw and they moved him out and kept him as a starter. In which that's how he finished the season. I have a feeling, Lyle, that they might still stretch out Brandon Garcia in the minors. Just as a normal starter. Because Garcia and the Mariners and Garcia understand that his value is at its highest when he starts.

[00:43:27] So I feel like, at this point, they have an idea of how Garcia pitches in shorter stints. Because that's what they had to do with him last year. Down towards the end of last year, he was on an innings limit. And they started throwing him only three to four innings. Well, if he's going to be in the bullpen, maybe not three innings, but two, as you mentioned, as more of a stretched out, long reliever. They've had an idea of how that stuff plays up in those shorter stints.

[00:43:59] But going into the spring training, the idea of Brandon Garcia as a reliever is phenomenal. He's got the stuff. He's a lefty. And right now, the two lefties you have in this bullpen don't have the overpowering stuff. Gabe at times. But Garcia throws 99. Gabe does not throw 99. And Gabe would tell you that he doesn't throw 99.

[00:44:23] So just because you have that ability, or Brandon Garcia, makes this so enticing. I still do feel like, Lyle, they're going to, by the end of spring, he's still going to be stretched out to about four innings, I feel like. I feel like if they want him to, I think they feel like it would be better for his development if he kept throwing in longer stints.

[00:44:51] But they could still throw him in the bullpen if they wanted to. So let's make this clear. It was reported that they are looking at him as a true bullpen option for 2025. They made that clear. That's been reported out there. That being said, you just feel like that they may choose to go that route with him just in case he does not make the roster. And then he's still got the ability to throw as a starter. And maybe they use him in three-inning spurts as a starter down in double-A for when they eventually decide that it is his turn to be called upon.

[00:45:21] And he'll be ready for it rather than going from a reliever to a starter. Two points on this. First of all, I heard Divish on Puck's podcast talking about he thinks that's what they're going to do. And we trust Ryan Divish's information. So if he says that, I'll believe it. The second point of it is if you're trying to help him develop here in spring, why would you want to change what works? So clarify, when Divish said that's what they're going to do on Puck's podcast.

[00:45:51] Meaning they're going to stretch him out. They're going to stretch him out. Yeah, which makes sense because, again, it's much easier to go from starter to reliever than reliever to starter. So sure, he may be stretched out. He may throw as a starter during spring training because, like you said, that's where his value is still going to be the highest. Post-2025, he may still be a starter. We'll see how it all goes. We'll see what the rest of the prospects look like in terms of the pitchers. But if they feel like they need him in 2025 out of the bullpen, I think you could see him out of the bullpen. But yes. He's going to be an option. Yes.

[00:46:21] And it makes sense to stretch him out as a starter. You might as well because you have the option. But if we are just looking now getting back to the idea of a breakout candidate who could really make a difference for the Mariners this year, it's him. And it's him as a reliever. I would love to see Brandon Garcia get a chance to keep starting. I hope he does. But in this current rotation, there's just not a ton of window for opportunity considering these five starters are the best in baseball.

[00:46:47] But Brandon Garcia out of the bullpen, especially if he's going to be a multi-inning guy, that is something you can dream on. Because the Mariners have not had a truly hard-throwing, dominant, left-handed arm like that in a long time. Again, Gabe and Sauce are a little bit different. Really good arms when they're at their best. But they're more finesse guys, strike throwers. You know, Sauce gets ground balls. Gabe throws a ton of strikes. Garcia's somebody that can overpower guys in that bullpen. Especially if he's going to max out for an inning at a time.

[00:47:17] And you see that stuff play up. That's really exciting. Think about this. Imagine if Logan goes five and a third one day. Garcia comes in and he goes an inning and two-thirds. Pumping upper 90s. Getting swings and misses. And that gets you through seven. And then you get some combo of Brash, Santos, Munoz, eight and nine. That's pretty cool. That would be pretty fun. There's just not many lefties like that in baseball. To be honest. No. It makes you more unicorn-like.

[00:47:45] We know the Mariners love to have different looks up and down their roster. Brandon Garcia, by the way, very different look. If you're unfamiliar with his delivery, go check it out. It is unique. Especially for a lefty. If you're standing in that lefty batter's box, the ball starts out at you. Which is very hard to pick up. Is it almost a little Garrett Crochet-esque? Is that fair? The delivery? A little bit. A little bit. It's definitely not over the top. Mm-hmm.

[00:48:15] Again, this is why I'm not going to put the idea of an Andrew Miller comp on him. Because it's just not fair. But it is that idea that I'm sure the Mariners are thinking about. With, again, hard-throwing, tall, lanky, left-handed reliever who could go multiple innings. Now let me again reframe the question. What does a BG breakout look like? In spring training? Yeah. Well, a lot of people haven't even really gotten to see him pitch.

[00:48:43] You've seen some highlights from the Mariners Miners account and through social media. But if people get their eyes on him this spring, and similar to what we talked about with the relievers. Number one, the stuff is up. But two, you're seeing him consistently show out and really miss bats over a multi-inning stretch. That's what I call a breakout. Because, look, if Brandon Garcia is a one-inning reliever, he's a one-inning reliever. And if that's where he's his best, then great.

[00:49:12] Use him in the way that it works best. But this idea of him being a multi-inning guy, if he's going two, three innings at a time in spring training in these games. And he's putting up zeros and he's missing bats. That's what I call a breakout. Because if he's doing that, I think it's going to get really, really interesting with what they do with Brandon Garcia come opening day. In fact, there's probably going to be some people in that org that are going to be really excited about what he... Or not probably, of course.

[00:49:41] If he goes out and pitches like that, there's going to be people in that org that would be really excited about what he has the potential to do. And if that's the case, he's going to make a real, real push to get on that opening day roster. Even if it's a long shot. If he dominates, that's going to be a fun conversation to have with what you do with him. Ready for my breakout candidate? Yeah. Surprised it's Cole Young. Woo!

[00:50:09] In case you couldn't tell by all the hints and essentially dead giveaways of what I was doing when talking about Ryan Bliss, my breakout candidate for the Mariners this spring training is Cole Young. And this seems almost too obvious because Cole Young almost certainly is going to be a Mariner by June. Mariners don't have any sort of solidity at second base. Cole Young is one of the Mariners' top prospects. He's a former first-round pick. And he's been very successful up and down the minors.

[00:50:38] That tells you that at some point he's going to be playing for the Mariners every single day. Or what you would hope. Maybe that won't be this year. But he's certainly going to play in some aspect. And I want that to start at spring training for Cole Young. I look at Cole Young and what he did at Arkansas this past year in a place that's really tough to hit. He still put up a 119 WRC+. He had 25 doubles. He only struck out 15.8% of the time. I ask you, Lyle.

[00:51:07] Looking at what Cole Young put up. A 271-369-390 slash line. With that WRC+, I mentioned. Is there anything left you feel like in the minor leagues for Cole Young? Like, what is it? Does he need to hit six more home runs? Is that it? I was going to say a little bit of power. Additional power would be great to see. He's never going to be a 25 home run guy.

[00:51:35] But just a little bit more power. Paired with, I think he could just still use some more at-bats. He hasn't had that many at-bats in the minor leagues. This is a guy that was drafted in 2021. He's really only had two full seasons after being an 18-year-old first rounder out of high school. So, the Mariners say they're probably going to start him in AAA. And to see what he could do against some essentially quad-A arms. A.K.A. guys that have big league experience and have thrown plenty of innings up in the majors.

[00:52:02] To see what he can do against some guys like that for a few weeks' time and see how he handles it would be great. And to also see that, look, while the PCL is a bam box and we know that offensive numbers can get vastly inflated. I would be interested to see what his approach looks like against some of those guys too. A.K.A. does the walk rate stay up? Does the strikeout rate stay down? Do his at-bats still look quality? I think seeing some of that for six to eight weeks would be pretty valuable for Cole Young and for the Mariners.

[00:52:29] Before making a decision on when his time has come to get called up. I'm thinking of a scenario here where Cole Young goes into spring training and he tears it up. And we get to the final week of spring training. He's still at big league camp. Or let's say within the final two weeks of spring training. That he's still in big league camp. He's still in the starting lineup. And he's having a ton of success. He's playing good defense. He's running the bases. He's doing all of this.

[00:52:57] And say he's one of the most valuable members of the entire Cactus League. And you sit there and you think, I feel like we have reached the 2021 Jared Kelnick situation at this point. Here we have a hole at second base. Here we have a top prospect who's playing against big leaguers and having an immense amount of success. There's going to be a really tough, tough decision to make for Jerry DePoto and company on what to do with Cole Young.

[00:53:24] Because I feel like there has not been a prospect that has pushed them to that Jared Kelnick 2021 conversation until we see Cole Young do it this year. Cole Demerson might be better. But he's not going to hit his way onto the big league roster out of spring training. That's not happening. But Cole Young has that opportunity to do so. There is one glaring thing that Cole needs to work on though.

[00:53:49] His performance against lefties has historically not been very good in the minors. He's played now three seasons of minor league baseball. He's yet to slug against lefties above 315. That's not great. Cole does get on base versus lefties. He had a 355 on base versus lefties in 2024 and a 394 on base in 2023.

[00:54:13] But when you move up levels and lefties realize you can't hit against them, they're going to stop throwing you balls. They're just going to throw you strikes and know that you can't do much damage against it. Is Cole Young going to be able to show that he can do damage against lefties this year? That's what I think the Mariners want to know. They want Cole Young to be able to play every day. At this current rate, based on what he's done in the minors against lefties,

[00:54:40] you don't have as much confidence he plays every single day and has enough impact to play every single day. You need to see those numbers come up a little bit, which is where Ryan Bliss comes in. Ryan Bliss could hit against those lefties and Cole Young could hit against those righties. But Cole Young's a first round pick. You want him to play every single day, hit 15 home runs, and have a 110 WRC+. That's what I think they're going to want to see when he's in AAA and he's facing former big leaguers

[00:55:08] who can land breaking balls in the strike zone. How is he going to handle that? That's why I think it's an important spring for him. And I would welcome a breakout. I would welcome he faces lefties. Let's say he gets 15 to 20 at-batch versus lefties in the spring and tears the cover off the ball. It would make me feel a lot better. All right, so there's a bunch to respond to with that. First off, I don't think...

[00:55:35] I don't know if Cole Young and Jared Kelnick are exactly perfect comps because Kelnick was ahead of where Cole was in terms of his development as a prospect. He was higher rated, but both were on the doorstep of the big leagues at this point. Kelnick had a little more success in AA than Cole probably has had so far. That's fair. There's that portion of it.

[00:56:00] The other part of this is the Mariners basically, outside of Julio, do not rush their prospects. Julio was such a unicorn that they said, Okay, what can we do? We have to put him on the big league roster. The Mariners, for the most part, take their time with most of their guys. You've seen it with... Yeah. Well, maybe not in the Jack Zarensic era, but in the DePoto era they do. Did they not rush Jared Kelnick? They did. The Mariners were right with Kelnick. Yeah.

[00:56:26] And they still rushed him, but again, they did not put him on the roster out in spring training. But they rushed him. Right. But look at everybody else. They rushed Cal. Eh, a little bit. Kind of. I, again, and especially with their high school prospects, they do not do it a lot. They don't rush those guys. So, paired with that, paired with that he still has to hit lefties a little bit better,

[00:56:52] which is the other big aspect of this Cole Young dilemma with what they do in spring training. That's why I think it would be... Look, if he breaks out in spring training, it'd be awesome. But it's still hard to imagine a world where he is definitively on the roster come opening day of 2025. Oh, and here's the other part of this. You mentioned they want him to play every day. Absolutely. They want Cole Young to play every day long term. In year one, they may not put that on him.

[00:57:21] They may be perfectly okay running out of platoon with him and either Demo and Bliss in year one of his big league tenure. And that's... Look, they want him to hit lefties. There's no doubt. Because again, long term, they envision him as their everyday second baseman. And I'm sure that's part of the reason they'll probably want him to have a little bit more development time come the minor league season of 2025.

[00:57:44] But in 2025 specifically, I would assume they will ease him in by mostly showing him right-handed pitching. If you want to pick one reason why Cole Young's got that opportunity, though, to break out this spring, is there any one of the other 39 non-roster invites that's going to play more than him? No. And to that point of yours about, let's say he's in big league camp in the final week, I think he will be. I don't even think that's a hypothetical.

[00:58:14] I think he will be in big league camp until the very, very end. They're going to get him as much exposure in big league spring training as they possibly can. That doesn't mean he's going to be on the roster come opening day. But I think they're going to... One, I think they're going to tell him that he has the right to go out and earn that job in spring training. And that's what you should tell him. You want to motivate the guy. But I think you're going to see him get plenty, plenty of at-bats in big league spring. And yes, I do not think there's another non-roster invite that will play more than Cole Young. No.

[00:58:44] He's going to get a ton of time. Have you seen his Zips projections? They're pretty good. I know. Two wins. Which, like we've said, if Cole Young is a two-win second baseman every year of his career, two to two and a half, that is a top ten second baseman in baseball. I'm not saying that's an MVP winner. I'm not saying that's Jose Altuve because it's not. But second base is a hard position to come by in terms of finding consistent success across the league.

[00:59:13] There's not that many great second basemen. And if Cole Young is a two to two and a half win player every year, especially in year one, that is a guy who ranks in the seven to ten range of second baseman in baseball. Mariners have not had that in years. So if he does that, that would be awesome. And the profile backs up the chance for him to do that. Because again, good approach, walks, doesn't strike out, good defense, bats a ball. That can be a two-win guy. The lack of power probably makes it hard to be a five-win guy.

[00:59:42] But two to three win guy, yeah. It's crazy for someone who's not going to even start the season in the big league roster. So we'll have to see. But I'm excited for all of these guys to break out in spring training. And this is, as guys are reporting to spring training, this is where the door of hope and optimism springs back in. See, isn't it great? It is. I was just sitting here thinking through this whole episode. So it's like no more John Stanton, no more Chris Larson talk,

[01:00:10] no more bullshit hypotheticals about off-season hot stove transactions. Now we can just talk about actual players and actual baseball. Thank goodness. We didn't even talk about Alex Bregman signing with the Red Sox, which is our ultimate hypothetical. Tristan Costas? Not a smart strategy. All right. Sorry. Sorry. I broke it for a second. I broke character. Anyway, last question to you before we wrap this up. I'll ask the same question to you as you asked to me about my guys.

[01:00:38] What does Cole Young have to do to qualify as a breakout? 20 good at-bats against lefties. Looks good on defense. Just looks like he belongs. Like, he essentially needs to produce what he did in the minors last year. Just at the big league level in spring training. I think of what he did at Arkansas, totally fine as a big leaguer. I don't think there's...

[01:01:07] You don't have to be too cute here with Cole Young. He needs to control the strike zone. He needs to walk a ton. He needs to not strike out a lot because he's not going to hit for the power to make up for it. He's going to need to get on base, which is his specialty. He's going to have to look good at second base defensively. And ultimately, as they play him every single day during the spring, hope he holds up and make sure he looks like he belongs on that roster. That's what I want to see out of him. And then, hey, maybe how about three of those?

[01:01:35] Three of those at-bats versus lefties go yard, please. Three home runs versus lefties. Ooh. Why not? Show off. If he hits three home runs in the spring training period, I think that'd be great. A lot of guys don't hit three home runs total in the spring. Julio sometimes doesn't hit three homers in the spring. If he gets three against lefties, that'd be great. Well, like you said, want to see power against lefties? There's no better way to show that. Yeah. How about this? In the simple answer, I want to see him look like he belongs on the roster.

[01:02:06] It's tough to put a number on it, but roughly, do you want to call it a 780 to 790 OPS in the spring? Sure. Yeah. Which is about where he was this past year in AA. Right. That'd be great. I'm excited for all these guys. There are so many storylines that are going to be really fun to follow as spring training really gets ramped up here. And we're going to be talking about it because baseball season's finally back.

[01:02:34] And like TJ said, there is real, real hope and optimism that you can take into the spring. And now it's the season for it because now it's going to be right in front of us with spring training really getting going here. So we can't wait. All right. I think that just about wraps up this edition of the Marine Layer Podcast. You guys know the drill. If 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 and review. Five stars. Please. It helps us out a bunch. If you're watching on YouTube, hit that subscribe button. Drop a like. Leave a comment.

[01:03:04] Do all three. Why not? Only takes a minute, right? Just a quick extra minute. On social media, you can follow us everywhere. Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube shorts, at MarineLayerPod. And one final time with those reminders. Live show. Thursday. February 20th, 6 p.m. Moss Bay Hall in Kirkland. We hope to see you there. And go check out our Patreon too. We're looking forward to really getting that going underway. That's TJ. I'm Lyle. As always, we thank you guys for tuning in. We'll talk to you soon.